Originally published on 28 January 2020 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Alfred Molina stars as ‘The Father’ | Photo by Paisley Smith / Pasadena Playhouse
If audiences who are watching ‘The Father’ at the Pasadena Playhouse are dazed and bewildered, then it would have spectacularly accomplished showing us what goes on in the mind of someone afflicted with dementia.
Written by Florian Zeller and translated by Christopher Hampton, ‘The Father’ has been acclaimed on two continents. It won the 2014 Moliere Award and was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award, the Olivier for Best New Play, and the Tony for Best Play. The much celebrated theatrical production promises to astound when it goes on stage at the Pasadena Playhouse from February 5th through March 1st.
‘The Father’ is directed by Jessica Kubzansky and stars Alfred Molina, in what’s being hailed as a tour-de-force role, Sue Cremin as ‘Anne,’ Michael Manuel as ‘Pierre,’ Pia Shah as ‘Laura,’ Hugo Armstrong as ‘Man,’ and Lisa Renee Pitts as ‘Woman.’
Taking a break from rehearsals, Kubzansky chats with me about how she landed the plum job of directing the play, why she immediately thought of Alfred Molina, and what she wants the audience to take away.
Kubzansky relates, “The brilliant Danny Feldman, the Pasadena Playhouse’s Producing Artistic Director, and I have worked together before. He said, ‘I have a play I want to send you. I don’t want you to do any research, I just want you to read it.’ I read it cold. I actually didn’t know anything about it and, in fact, obviously when I saw the title ‘The Father,’ my first thought was ‘Is he sending me the Strindberg?’ But it soon became very clear that it’s not the Strindberg and as I read it, my heart started beating faster. At the end of the play, I was blown away – gobsmacked! I called him and I said ‘Listen, I hope you’re thinking of Fred Molina for this role’ and he said to me, ‘Fred is already attached.’ And I went, ‘Oh my God! This is incredible!’ Of course, I would be honored to direct it.’”
Curious, I ask why she thought of Alfred Molina straightaway and Kubzansky replies, “Because he’s a brilliant actor.” I protest saying, “Surely, there are other wonderful actors.” And she quickly explains, “One of the things that’s important is that this is a story that can happen to anyone and Fred is so vital and alive. He’s such a powerful man and the idea that this happens to people who are vital, alive, and powerful was really moving to me. Much more so, frankly, than to see it happening to someone who already is, in some ways, on their last legs. First of all, I love Fred and I’ve never had the opportunity to work with him – and I’ve wanted to, for years, because he’s so brilliant. He has such a deep well and so much breadth and depth that he was the one who came to mind for the role when I read the play. He’s an astonishing instrument as an actor.”
When I inquire if she gave Molina specific directions or if he came in with his own ideas about the role, Kubzansky says, “Fred and I had a number of lunches before we went into rehearsals to talk about what’s moving to us about the play and about the approach to take. And we were on the same page. There’s no question that we have shared thoughts and opinions about various aspects of the play. Fred brings so much to the table – actually every single actor in this cast is remarkable. When I have actors that are this amazing, in general, I usually like to work off of their impulses and then help shape from there. Because a smart director takes advantage of all the great brains in the room. It’s a collaboration, of course. He has thoughts and questions, as do I, and we’re bouncing together to discover the play and his character. We’re enhancing each other.”
Alfred Molina | Photo by Paisley Smith / Pasadena Playhouse
I ask what she found compelling about ‘The Father’ and Kubzansky enthuses, “I think it’s a beautiful, brilliantly written play. And I think it’s like getting lost in a fun house or a labyrinth. One of the things that really attracted me to the play was trying to figure out what is real and whose reality we’re in and why. That’s so exciting to me! It’s a viewpoint on a condition that many people are in the middle of that we don’t get to experience. The play is entirely from Andre’s perspective. And to understand the world through his eyes is very powerful and very moving and really disorienting in the way that I think it would be. I have never seen it and I’m happy I haven’t. When I direct something, unless it’s Shakespeare, I’m really delighted if I get to meet it for the first time.”
The play has been described as a dark comedy. But there’s nothing comedic about dementia, as people with relatives that suffer from dementia know very well, I tell Kubzansky. She acquiesces, then adds, “Dementia is a horrifying disease. It is unbearable because as the realities of people who have dementia diverge, you lose more and more the person you treasured all your life. That is totally undeniable and is absolutely touched on in this play. But there are events that happen around it that are just funny. There are some delicious moments when, for instance, Andre is meeting a new caregiver and he tells her that he was a tap dancer. And his daughter says, ‘Dad, you were an engineer!’ The fact that he’s now claiming he was a tap dancer, from one perspective, is horrifying. But there’s another perspective where that’s just funny. And, for the moment, maybe that’s true.”
Sue Cremin as Anne | Courtesy photo / Pasadena Playhouse
“We talk about both sides of people with dementia as being in a giant improv and (in the same way) most human beings don’t understand how much they’re improv-ing in daily life,” continues Kubzansky. “And what I mean by that is, I think, that a person who has dementia is aware that there are things they don’t know that they should. So they’re constantly acting like they know what’s going on to preserve face until a certain point after which that stops being the case. And the people surrounding them are continually trying to navigate what the person with dementia is thinking and the ways in which they can accommodate that thought while still getting what they need. The whole interaction is like a giant game of improv in which no one knows what’s going to happen next. Sometimes, unintentionally, the results of that are funny.
“For instance, in this play, Andre is very worried about a watch that he has. And the processes that he goes through to ascertain where his watch is, are sometimes really funny. He’s worried that it’s gone missing or someone’s taken it, and the means he uses to figure out what happened to his watch occasionally result in some kind of brilliant character improvs. So those are the reasons this play is funny. No one is making fun of this disease – it’s too terrible.”
Kubzansky has seen first-hand how dementia affects people. She discloses, “To be honest, in my particular case, my grandmother was a very dour, sour woman most of her life. She came from Poland to escape the pogroms. In Poland, her husband was an intellectual and when they immigrated to New York, he became a factory worker in a garment workshop. It was a very typical immigrant story. To get her to smile was like cracking granite. Her life was hard and you experienced that every time you interacted with her. But, as she turned 90, she started to have dementia and, all of a sudden, her personality radically changed. She confused us with people she grew up with – she didn’t recognize me as her granddaughter anymore. She assumed I was her friend in Poland – she was charming and sweet. I didn’t know that woman existed but I got to meet the woman before life beat on her. I could see why my grandfather married her. The dementia made her a nicer human. In a weird way, that one was a gift. Most of the time, I don’t think it is.”
The play might be disorienting for the audience. As Kubzansky describes, “Because the play is from Andre’s perspective, things change in very strange ways. Bizarre things happen and it is as disorienting for us as it is for him. For a minute we actually get to walk in his shoes but, blessedly, we don’t have to stay there like he does.”
Michael Manuel as Pierre | Courtesy photo / Pasadena Playhouse
As for the reaction she’s hoping for, Kubzansky declares, “I want the audience to have a huge amount of compassion for every single human in the play because, I think, this is not only the story of a man who has dementia, but the story of his daughter who’s trying to be his caregiver. It’s the story of her partner, who is living with someone who isn’t his parent who has dementia, and how trying that is. I want everyone to understand how challenging it is for everybody to be a good human being in very difficult circumstances – how wearying it is to be the caregiver, how exhausting it is to be the person who has the disease and doesn’t understand what’s going on most of the time. I want us to think about the people who dedicate their lives to taking care of these people. I think it’s such a challenging road to navigate. One of the things that I think gets really hard when people become exhausted – either because they have the disease or because they’re dealing with someone who has the disease – is how to remain a good human being, how to stay compassionate and not punitive or uncaring.
“I hope that people walk out of the play with the sense that they are seen, that they’re challenged in their journey. Because whether you’re caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s or a parent who is terminally ill with cancer, there’s so much caretaking going on. There is a huge generation of people taking care of older parents and their own children at the same time and it’s exhausting. The idea that the audience could walk out having seen themselves and know that someone else is seeing how challenging their journey is, and how difficult yet how desirable it is to be a good human being through those given circumstances. Most profoundly, with a new understanding from inside the head of the person who’s experiencing dementia – what it must be like. I would be thrilled if that’s what people walked away with.”
Originally published on 16 December 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Artist’s rendering of The Huntington’s 2020 entry in the Rose Parade, designed by Phoenix Decorating Company. The float celebrates The Huntington’s 100th anniversary running from Sept. 2019 through Sept. 2020. – Courtesy photo / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens will mark another historic event as its own float travels down Colorado Blvd. for the Rose Parade, 50 years since it last made an appearance at Pasadena’s famous New Year’s Day floral, equestrian, and marching band pageant.
Themed ‘Cultivating Curiosity,’ the 55-foot long float captures the spirit of The Huntington’s Centennial Celebration and highlights its rare research materials, inspiring art collections, and unparalleled botanical gardens which have made it a beloved destination that welcomes 750,000 visitors each year.
In 1969, the city of San Marino sponsored an entry that featured floral depictions of the institution’s world-renowned paintings ‘The Blue Boy’ and ‘Pinkie,’ an imposing replica of the historic Library building’s façade, and the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales.’ The float won the Grand Marshal’s Trophy. This year, The Huntington commissioned a float for the first time.
The Huntington’s float in the 1969 Rose Parade, sponsored by the city of San Marino. – Courtesy photo / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Chatting with me by phone, Randy Shulman, The Huntington’s VP for Advancement and External Relations says “The last time we were represented at the Rose Parade, it was done by the city so it’s as if we’re doing it for the first time – it’s all Huntington content and people. It’s our centennial and it’s an opportunity to help celebrate and raise awareness of The Huntington and its centennial year.”
I ask why they’d never done it before and Shulman replies, “The Huntington is a non-profit that raises its operating expenses every year. External promotion is never going to be the top priority. Always, the top priorities will be running its education programs and doing its academic mission. The thought of doing a Rose Parade float is an exceptional moment so we need an exceptional moment. That’s why we chose to do it now.
“The decision to sponsor a Rose Parade float came out of a discussion of the Board and some of the people in our board community who said ‘This is a great moment.’ Our president, Karen Lawrence, joined The Huntington a little over a year ago and she was very quickly enthusiastic about it. So, we have a new president, it’s a new time, it’s a hundred years – all the planets aligned. Additionally, we were able to find private donors who would help us make it possible. Every dollar of the cost of the float is through donations, not through our operating budget.
“We had just told our entire donor community that we’re doing this float and if they wanted to volunteer we had 1,000 spots for people to volunteer and if they wanted to help by making a donation, that would be welcomed. And some people have done that. We posted the volunteer sign-up to help decorate our float on our website and spots were filled rapidly.”
The Huntington’s float on the first day of decorating. – Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
Choosing the float builder was a competitive process. Shulman discloses, “We had the major builders provide proposals and we evaluated based on the design and the background of the float builder. The design of the float itself came out of a desire to represent not just the Huntington that people are familiar with, but one that integrates discovery and curiosity. We wanted to have some familiar things that people recognize as well as other things that people may not recognize. The end of the float is the ‘Stinky Flower’ which is a playful way of talking about The Huntington’s very unusual Botanical Garden collection. Some of the materials being used are grown here – seeds, pods, bark, and some leaves. And that’s really great – it talks about us and the place. It’s also fun for many people who have been here and walked the place to see the familiar sights depicted on the float.”
Given the numerous significant things at The Huntington, I inquire how difficult it was to come down to seven elements that would be represented on the float. Shulman responds, “We asked the directors of the Library, the Art Museum, and the Botanical Gardens for their thoughts. But, of course, things decided by a committee never work out because it’s hard for a lot of people to have a consensus. What we did want to do is to keep it simple, recognizable to a point, but we also wanted to have a sense of playfulness. What people won’t see on the float are some of the more recognizable items like ‘Blue Boy’ or Shakespeare’s folio. But that’s because we want the opportunity to show something very beautiful that people might not know about.
The float’s Huntington Centennial Rose. – Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
“That was one of our President’s goals. She wants to have that moment when people say ‘What is it? I have to go see.’ She wants to have people have that joy of discovering more about The Huntington. It’s a complex place. There’s so much happening here with the different collections in the gardens and there’s always something new to discover in the gallery as well. Our float is a manifestation of the joy of The Huntington’s 100 years – both getting to the hundred-year mark but also looking forward to the next centennial.”
The Huntington’s float will have eight riders and will be followed by six walkers as it makes the 5.5-mile journey down Colorado Blvd. The float riders will include four youth participants from The Huntington’s community partner programs with the Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and the Pablove Foundation; Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence; two lucky staff members who won a staff-wide raffle; and leadership donor and member of The Huntington’s Board of Governors Mei-Lee Ney. The walkers following the float will include five of The Huntington’s teen volunteers and one adult supervisor.
The elements on the float include the Tempietto, the Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Ellesmere Chaucer, and Edward Hopper’s ‘The Long Leg.’ – Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
It was the design submitted by prominent float builder Phoenix Decorating Company (PDC) that won The Huntington’s vote. Curious to see what the float looks like, I visit their Irwindale site on the first day that volunteers arrive to help decorate. Chuck Hayes, Sponsor Relations Manager at PDC, is a gregarious man who warmly welcomes me and eagerly explains their association with the San Marino institution.
“The Huntington said they wanted a 55-foot float and detailed the elements they wanted on it. We conferred with them throughout the conceptual process – we held multiple meetings, made many visits to the facility, and took several images from which to come up with a design. Our artist worked directly with their team to arrive at something that included the components and fitted their requirements. We’re the interpreter of their concept and all the materials we’re using on the float help realize that vision. It’s what makes me proud to be a float builder – to be able to honor organizations like The Huntington. Every single float we build is a unique prototype, each is a one-off, and has never been done before. Floats are built by hand from scratch – from the design stage to getting each petal onto the float.
“The Rose Parade is a Southern California tradition and, as a float builder, we always want to give our clients the greatest thrill at that moment when they walk up to see it for the first time. We build everything to scale so people who are watching it along the parade route can really focus on the float. There’s so much for them to take in – while the float is traveling down the five-and-a-half mile-parade route at 2.5 miles per hour, there might be a marching band in front and equestrian riders behind it. We made sure that people who have never been to The Huntington would be compelled to visit it after seeing this float.”
Hayes continues, “Phoenix has been an award-winning Rose Parade float builder for 37 years. We have a team of professionals that works year-round constructing and deconstructing floats. We begin in January when the Tournament of Roses announces the theme for any given year – for 2020 it’s ‘The power of Hope.’ That becomes our emphasis and it’s how we bring everyone into the fold. The client comes into the parade excited – some have never seen a float before, some have never commissioned one so they don’t know what’s involved. We sit with them and we tell them what we do, show them pictures of floats we’ve built and decorated. Sometimes, clients hear about something we’d done through word of mouth, or have seen a project we worked on like ‘Earth, Wind, and Fire’ which the Forum commissioned to celebrate their 50th anniversary. That’s what The Huntington was looking for – something uniquely theirs.
Volunteers work on The Huntington’s float. – Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
“We have anywhere from 25 to 40 people on staff – artists and construction crew – at various times. The number expands as the activity progresses and we hire crew chiefs and assistant crew chiefs who work on specific floats. The decoration can be done by the organization’s volunteers and by anyone who wants to decorate. They can sign up on our website, on the Kiwanis site, or through the ‘Petal Pushers.’ Our crew chiefs and assistant crew chiefs work with the volunteers who show them how to glue the materials onto the float. The Huntington brought so many volunteers to fill the decorating shifts. But if, for some reason, a client didn’t have people show up, their float would still be ready to go down Colorado Blvd. on New Year’s Day.”
On the day I visit Phoenix, a coordinator with Tournament of Roses (TofR) is there and Hayes introduces me to her. That also prompts him to expound, “This is the 131st year of the Rose Parade. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have a parade. They give the opportunity for organizations like The Huntington to get worldwide exposure; I believe they said somewhere in the world, the parade is shown every day of the year – because of tape delays in other countries. There are over 700,000 on the parade route, a regional and national TV audience, and international viewers. And with social media, people can now react and let others know what floats they like in real time. Awareness about the parade just keeps expanding.”
People watching the Rose Parade on Colorado Blvd. and television viewers everywhere will have the delightful experience of seeing a Huntington float that depicts the following iconic elements in The Huntington’s collections:
The Pavilion of the Three Friends. – Courtesy Photo / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Pavilion of the Three Friends
Located in Liu Fang Yuan, the Chinese Garden at The Huntington, the Pavilion of the Three Friends is named for the ‘three friends of winter’: bamboo, pine, and plum. They are symbols of fortitude, integrity, and resilience. Carvings of these signature plants adorn the ceiling of the pavilion and also grow nearby.
The pavilion’s roof will be covered with eucalyptus leaves of green/grey. Painted tiles are made of light grey and dark grey lettuce seed. The main body is covered in red fine cut strawflower, white fine ground rice and light grey, light lettuce seed. Window insets are covered in light blue fine cut statice, green fine ground split pea, and shiny grey silverleaf.
The pathway of light is made of grey light lettuce seed; rocks of light grey, light lettuce seed and white fine ground rice; accents of green mood moss.
Maple trees have tops of orange and yellow dendrobs with underneath areas of green ground parsley flakes and branches of dark brown coffee.
Sculpted barrel cacti are covered in ground parsley flakes and light green carnation calyx. Flowers on top are bright yellow whole strawflowers. Juvenile golden barrel cacti are provided by Huntington Gardens. The area around small cacti is grey Spanish moss.
The Rose Garden Tempietto. – Photo by Alexander Vertikoff / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Rose Garden Tempietto
The centerpiece of The Huntington’s historic Rose Garden, the 18th-century French stone tempietto houses a sculpture – Love, the Captive of Youth – which depicts Cupid and his captor, a fair maiden. Appropriately, the tempietto is encircled by a bed of ‘Passionate Kisses’ roses. The three-acre Rose Garden contains more than 3,000 individual plants and more than 1,250 different cultivated varieties (cultivars), including Huntington’s 100th, the newly hybridized rose marking The Huntington’s Centennial.
Rose Garden Tempietto is covered in white powdered rice, light grey ground white pepper, and dark grey poppy seed. Floral on top is made of green asparagus plumose, hot pink roses, and white and light pink dendrobs. Sculpted centennial rose petals are light pink and white gladiola petals, yellow and bronze fine cut strawflower, and white powdered rice.
The Japanese Garden features a small lake spanned by a moon bridge, a traditional house, and trellises of wisteria. – Photo by Martha Benedict / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Japanese Moon Bridge
Completed circa 1912, the distinctive Moon Bridge is an iconic feature of The Huntington’s celebrated Japanese Garden. Commissioned by Henry Huntington himself, the Moon Bridge was built by Japanese craftsman Toichiro Kawai. The bridge’s high arch and reflection in the still pond below form a circle, reminiscent of the moon.
Japanese Moon Bridge is comprised of tan paper bark with underneath coverage of tan fine walnut and dark brown coffee; finials of black seaweed. Bonsai trees have tops of green mood moss, underneath areas of green ground parsley flakes, with branches of dark brown coffee. The pond has edges of green mood moss and water of purple, light blue, and dark blue iris.
Mary Cassatt’s ‘Breakfast in Bed.’ – Courtesy photo / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
‘Breakfast in Bed’ by Mary Cassatt
Painted in 1897 by famed American Impressionist Mary Cassatt, ‘Breakfast in Bed’ is one of the most-beloved portraits in The Huntington’s collection. Cassatt’s work often depicts the social and private lives of women; she is well known for capturing the intimate bonds between mothers and children.
Edward Hopper’s ‘The Long Leg.’ – Courtesy photo / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
‘Long Leg’ by Edward Hopper
The ‘Long Leg’ by Edward Hopper was painted in 1935 and has been a favorite painting among Huntington visitors since its debut in 1984 as one of the artworks that established the American art collection. With a nearly all-blue composition, the painting reflects two of Hopper’s favorite themes: sailing and the sea. In 2011, as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s American Treasures series, the work was issued as a postage stamp.
‘Breakfast in Bed’ by Mary Cassatt and ‘Long Leg’ by Edward Hopper feature frames of dark brown coffee, gold clover seed and light yellow fine cut strawflower. Backs of black onion seed. Floragraphs of various spices and seeds.
The Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales.’ Shown is the introduction to ‘The Knight’s Tale.’ – Courtesy photo / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
The Ellesmere Chaucer
The elaborately decorated Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’ was created sometime between 1400 and 1410. It contains what is believed to be a portrait of Chaucer as well as miniature paintings of 22 other fictional pilgrims who tell stories in order to enliven the journey from London to Canterbury. The medieval manuscript is on parchment.
The Ellesmere Chaucer has pages of white powdered rice, black onion powder and dark grey poppy seed. Binder is of red fine cut strawflower; floral top has green springeri, dark lavender roses, dark lavender carnations, and green leather fern.
A Corpse Flower dubbed ‘Scentennial’ bloomed on July 24, 2019. – Photo by Deborah Miller / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Corpse Flower
In August of 1999, a rare corpse flower bloomed at The Huntington—the first known flowering of this exotic species in the state of California. This exciting (and smelly) occurrence provided an opportunity for thousands of visitors to witness one of the wonders of the botanical world. Since that extraordinary event, The Huntington has produced nine additional blooms—most recently on July 24, 2019—and has shared seeds and pollen with botanical gardens across the country.
Palm tree fronds have tops of green komodor fern, underneath of green ground parsley flakes, floral of yellow and orange cymbidiums, and trunks of reddish/brown palm bark with fiber. The bases of palms are sago palms with green cycad leaves provided by Huntington Gardens.
Corpse flowers are crème sesame seed, green fine ground split pea, and dark purple and red fuzzy cut strawflower; pots of red fine cut strawflower.
Deck of green is made of springeri, hot pink and red roses, red anthuriums, light pink, orange and pink roses, peach anthuriums, peach roses, orange and white with green “geisha” anthuriums, green springeri, and white cattleyas. Green leather fern, white dendrobs, white tiger lilies, coco stix with powdered rice and white starburst mums.
In a news release the communications department sent out this summer, Karen Lawrence expressed the institution’s message. “The Huntington’s incomparable collections have had an extensive reach over the past century, and we expect them to continue to inspire visitors, new and old, for the next 100 years in powerful and unpredictable ways. We welcome the national and international exposure that this celebrated parade provides and look forward to this joyful moment during our Centennial as a way of sharing our treasures with audiences the world over.”
Originally published on 9 December 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
The Pasadena Playhouse’s lit Christmas tree | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
If you were at the Engemann Family Courtyard of the Pasadena Playhouse at 8:00 last Thursday evening, you would have been happily surprised by snow falling on your head. It was a fun final touch to The Playhouse’s tree lighting ceremony which started promptly at 7 pm.
Danny Feldman, Producing Artistic Director, whose brainchild it was to have a Christmas tree at the courtyard during the holidays, opened the ceremony with Playhouse District Association’s Executive Director, Brian Wallace. This year, the Playhouse is participating in the ‘Spark of Love’ Toy Drive with ABC7 and the Southern California Firefighters and Pasadena’s Fire chief was also on hand.
The public was treated to Christmas carols sung by The Marshall Fundamental Choir and by cast members of The Playhouse’s production of ‘Little House of Horrors’ – Brittany Campbell, Tickwanya Jones, and Cheyenne Isabel Wells. A performance by the Bob Baker Marionettes enthralled kids of all ages.
Pasadena Playhouse’s Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman and Playhouse District’s Brian Wallace | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
Sometime during the night, Feldman wrapped a scarf around his neck in anticipation of a rare snowfall. And we were not disappointed – we were soon covered in sudsy ‘snow’ after the Christmas tree was lit at 8:00.
Chatting with me directly after the ceremony, Feldman says, “This is my third tree lighting at the Pasadena Playhouse – we actually did one when I was barely starting here but we didn’t do it the following year. Then we got a new tree and this is our second year with the new tree. I’m Jewish but I love Christmastime. I love the idea of giving and of people enjoying the holidays together. Our world is so divisive and crazy so it’s good to have everyone coming into one space that’s nice and cozy like our courtyard to light a big tree and to celebrate.”
“My message year-round, not just at Christmas, is that the reason I love what I do is having the opportunity to bring strangers in our community collectively to sit in a room, then turn off the lights and let them play make-believe together,” Feldman remarks. “It reminds us of our shared humanity with these strangers sitting next to us. You watch a show like ‘The Great Leap’ and it awakens something in you personally but then you look over and the people next to you feel the same way. That, in our world of phones and Twitter, isn’t an experience we have often. And we have to fight to protect those shared experiences. To me, this Playhouse is a temple to that. It’s really the place of community coming together and connecting with one another. And so I spend every day trying to create the space for that to happen. And the holidays, in particular, is an important time to refresh or memory – to remind us of the importance of that.”
The Marshall Fundamental Choir | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
The Tree Lighting occasion also included a show presented by professionals and students. Feldman explains, “We have partnerships with the public schools in Pasadena – every year we bring the entire PUSD 7th graders to see the play. What we often do is pick a different school each time to participate when we have an event. In the spring, we had a drum corps from one of the schools. We put on world-class plays but we also use our space to showcase local performers because we want to live up to our mission as a community gathering place.
“I grew up in the area and I’ve been to the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre in L.A. during school field trips. Watching a puppet show is a big deal for children. Adults see it from a different perspective but for a kid, just like the ones sitting at the front row today, it’s something entrancing. They focus on the movements of the marionettes and that’s magical.”
The Bob Baker Marionettes | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
Feldman continues, “This year we wanted to do something that impacted the community in a bigger way. We knew that the Pasadena fire department has this drive so we called them and asked to partner with them – we’re one of their toys drop–off locations. We ask them to bring their fire truck, and speak to our audiences during holiday events.”
Recapping the year and looking forward to 2020, Feldman states, “This is one of our most successful years ever at The Playhouse. We had our big musicals – ‘Ragtime’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ – and they were epic for us. They broke all sorts of records. For our Christmas show, we’re having the Bob Baker’s ‘Nutcracker’ at the Carrie Hamilton Theater from November 30 to December 29. Holding it at the smaller venue means the puppets will be right on eye level with the kids which makes for a really captivating show; we’re expecting it to be a big success.
“We’re starting 2020 with a really powerful play with Alfred Molina, who’s a brilliant actor. It’s called ‘The Father’ and it will run from February 5 to March 1. I don’t want to say too much about it but it’s an extraordinary performance that people will be talking about for many years to come.
‘Snow’ falls on Danny Feldman, cast members of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and a gleeful crowd | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
“Then we’ll have Holland Taylor, an Emmy Award-winning, Tony-nominated actress, who most people know as the Mom from ‘Two and a Half Men.’ I saw her perform this show, ‘Ann,’ on Broadway in 2013 and it was, for me, one of the greatest nights of theatre – I loved it and I’ve been trying to get her to do that show here and she finally said yes. So we’re doing that from May 27 to June 28. It’s a brilliant play about Texas governor Ann Richards who was a powerful politician in a man’s world, who was a democratic governor in a Red State. Again, it’s a very timely piece at this divisive time – it shows how Richards’s work and what she fought for brought people together. Holland Taylor did all the research, wrote it, and performs the character of Ann Richards. The play is inspirational, hysterical, and fun.”
“Next summer we’re doing ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ one of the greatest musicals of all time, which we’re putting a fresh, new spin on to update it. Musicals are expensive to produce but worth it, so we rely on philanthropic support. I wish we can do them all the tine – I love musicals and our audiences love them too. I think seeing a big musical like ‘Ragtime’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ in a 650-seat theatre with a big orchestra and a big cast is a truly amazing sensory experience; you don’t get that in a big theatre. Our production of ‘Ragtime’ just got ‘Best Production,’ ‘Best Direction,’ ‘Best Choreography,’ Ovation nominations. So we’re building upon those,” Feldman says in closing.
And so, under Feldman’s stewardship, we can expect the Pasadena Playhouse to continue to astound us with fantastic shows, to rouse us with stirring plays and, always, to let us come together as a community in joyous appreciation of the performing art
Yee’s play centers on an American basketball team in Beijing where the coaches find themselves in a conflict that runs deeper than the strain between the countries and where a young player’s actions become the accidental focus of attention. Presented in partnership with East West Players, ‘The Great Leap’ is directed by Tony Award winner BD Wong and stars Justin Chien as Manford, Christine Lin as Connie, Grant Chang as Wen Chang, and James Eckhouse as Saul.
I attended the show’s opening last weekend and, because I hadn’t seen it before, I didn’t expect how spectacular it turned out to be. ‘The Great Leap’ is a drama that doesn’t call attention to itself – it is as quietly powerful as it is profoundly moving. And, I think, Grant Chang’s mesmerizing performance is one that will be remembered for years to come.
Chang, who graciously agrees to speak with me about the play, starts our phone conversation by saying that his throat has been bothering him and apologizes in advance that he might be coughing as we chat. Let me forewarn you, though, that this interview contains a few spoilers.
I begin by asking how he got involved with the play and Chang replies, “BD Wong and I are both from New York and he’s a good friend of mine. I had seen his performance in New York and I know that he did it in San Francisco as well. I was really blown away by it – it was such a great role for any Asian American male individual and I thought if I ever had the opportunity to do something like that, I would jump at it. There are very few plays where you’re the lead character and you have so much to say with such heart.
“Months later, BD mentioned he was doing this play and recommended that I audition for it. At first I thought they were only looking for local hires. Nevertheless, I sent in an audition tape which everyone involved saw and decided to take me. While BD and I knew each other, it wasn’t just handed to me. And I wouldn’t feel I earned the part if I didn’t audition for it.”
James Eckhouse as Saul and Grant Chang as Wen Chang | Photo by Jenny Graham / Pasadena Playhouse
Describing the character he plays, Chang says, “In many ways, the country or society we grow up in and how we grow up dictate how we feel and think. But at the core of every human being, no matter where they’re from and their upbringing, is yearning for love and the freedom to love. My character grew up during a suppressed time period – a very dark period in China. All he knew was living day to day and surviving by not causing waves; by listening to what he was told to do and how he should behave; and not changing the status quo in any way whatsoever. And that’s really hard because as an Asian-American, those aren’t my circumstances. While developing the character wasn’t too difficult, it was really depressing at times to suppress all my feelings and all that emotion to fit in his shoes.”
I ask Chang his biggest challenge and what was fun in playing this role. “When we first started rehearsals, it was hard not to break down,” he reveals. “I thought ‘Oh my God, how can I do this every night, eight times a week?’ That, and also memorizing all the lines in a short amount of time were the hardest thing. I would sit with one of the stage managers and drill the lines over and over in my head for hours on end to get comfortable enough to tell the story.
“However, once I got over that initial hurdle, I was able to get into the storytelling aspect. It’s truly a wonderful project and every night we’re on stage is a different experience depending on the energy of the audience and how we deliver our lines. I have the most fun in the scenes I share with James Eckhouse, who plays Saul. The more genuine and more fun it is for us translates really well to the whole experience. I think we take the audience on that same ride and joy. The feeling is infectious.”
“This cast is really amazing. When I first met them, we bonded quite quickly. Everyone got along and that’s so rare. The Pasadena Playhouse has been so wonderful and BD is a great director. I’m so happy about how it all turned out. Every day I get to perform it and make people cry – that makes me happy, however strange that sounds.”
Chang’s amazing performance is all the more impressive as it doesn’t reflect who he is. He remarks, “Wen Chang is so different from who I am so I had to dig deep to find him. Obviously, my parents and my culture influenced my depiction of my character. I grew up in New York city’s Chinatown so it wasn’t hard for me to connect because I’d met individuals who had that experience. Kids nowadays can’t always communicate well with their parents because of the generation gap. But I also learned from that and that helped me in building this character. However, the stoicism that my character has is intrinsic in Asian culture even to this day – we get too embarrassed to openly show emotion.”
Grant Chang | Photo by Jenny Graham / Pasadena Playhouse
BD has played the character twice but audiences who have watched it will see a different Wen Chang. “BD’s portrayal of the character wasn’t the same as mine,” Chang notes. “He was fantastic and wonderful, so much so that I wanted to do the play. At the core of it, we understand who the character is and where he comes from. Growing up as Chinese-Americans knowing our history, we can totally relate to it. But as individuals, I think our approach is probably quite different – just like everybody else and every person you meet in life. So we have to connect to what makes us unique and bring that out in the character. When he directed me, it wasn’t about him telling me how to do it because he had done it. It was about giving me the opportunity to find the character on my own. And I think that’s also what makes it so special to all of us because we really worked so hard and diligently to do a play that had such great meaning and emotional connection to the audience in many different ways.”
The playwright incorporated in the story a real event which is forever etched in the world’s collective memory. I ask if that affected his portrayal of the character and Chang responds, “At the end of the play Lauren Yee writes, ‘It’s Wen Chang, or it could be anyone else. More than the politics of it, it is more about how an individual can step forward, be brave, and own up to your life, instead of letting all the other factors and noise stop you from living the life you want to live.’ So for Wen Chang, who was just standing his entire life, that moment was about taking his turn instead of being suppressed. He knew it was a decision and moment that meant giving up his freedom, however little he had of it, and his own life. Even though it’s a very sad ending, it’s still such a beautiful ending. It was a moment of bravery and sacrifice.
“I would like the audience to leave with the notion that we all have one life and we have to live that life to the fullest. There’s a lesson to be learned just as the character learned it and made the choice. And it was the right choice; it was a beautiful choice. To me, it’s not how many years you live, it’s what we do with whatever time we have that matters.”
“As an actor, I want people to feel and to think about life. However one is affected by our play, it’s an effect because it makes the wheels turn in their head. And it can go in any direction they want to and that expands their thought process. A lot of people came up to me and said, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect it to end that way’, or ‘I was so moved.’ And it begs the question, ‘Why are you moved?’ ‘Why are you feeling that way?’ And that’s something they would have to answer, not me. I have done my job as an actor because I’ve moved them,” concludes Chang.
You don’t have to be Chinese American to feel Wen Chang’s pain when he, at last, lays bare his soul. In his last monologue, the profound torment which was hidden beneath his stoicism pours out, albeit in restrained anguish. Chang’s heart-rending portrayal of a man who ultimately breaks away from a lifetime of blind obedience to finally claim himself is supremely magnificent.
Originally published on 13 November 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
The Dr. Robert W. Winter Tribute at the Exhibition Hall of the Pasadena Convention Center | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
Dr. Robert Winter, who passed away in February this year, was an inspiration to preservationists and architect buffs for over 50 years. He was hailed as the ‘Father of historic preservation in Pasadena.’ It was his campaign to effect an ordinance to establish a cultural heritage commission that eventually created the Pasadena Heritage. He was an influencer long before the term entered the pop culture lexicon.
To recognize his significant contributions to the Arts & Crafts movement on the West Coast, Pasadena Heritage’s Craftsman Weekend 2019 held on November 1 to 3 incorporated the inaugural Dr. Robert Winter Memorial Lecture and the unveiling of a permanent tribute commissioned by Pasadena Center Operating Company (PCOC) at the exhibition hall of the Pasadena Convention Center.
Author and historian Ann Scheid, who heads the Greene & Greene Archives at The Huntington Library and has co-authored a book about The Gamble House with Dr. Winter, was the first lecturer. She gave a short biography that covered his life and career, his passion for Craftsman homes as well as for martinis. She reminisced about his penchant for performing – whether when taking his Occidental College students on bus tours of architectural landmarks or when giving talks about the history of the Arts & Crafts movement on the West Coast. Her stories brought back happy memories for the audience who had been invited because they had close ties with him. Her lecture ended with a short video of Dr. Winter singing con brio the chorus to a song called ‘In the Land of the Bungalow.’
Patty Judy, Education Director of the Pasadena Heritage, explains, “It’s an old song written in the 1920s. As far as I know, Bob discovered it in his endless research of the Craftsman era and was just delighted with it, learned it, and often performed it just for fun – in classrooms, at lectures, and to close all kinds of presentations when he was asked to speak. As Ann said, he loved being a ‘performer.’ I think the song became tied to him because he sang it so often and so many who heard him speak over the years remember it.”
Participants in the Craftsman Weekend 2019 Show | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
An open reception followed the lecture at the other side of the hall where people milled about and chatted as they enjoyed the drinks and finger foods. Then Dianne Philibosian, former chair of PCOC, alongside her husband Tom Seifert, asked all the guests to assemble for the unveiling of a special permanent display.
Says Judy, “Tom was a dear, close friend of Bob’s. He and Dianne were nearby neighbors who regularly checked in on him and helped out in recent years. The two of them spearheaded the effort to come up with a proper Pasadena tribute to Bob and we worked with them to create this event combining our lecture and the tribute unveiling.”
Philibosian discloses the reasoning for the choice of venue, “I thought the historic exhibition hall would be a really appropriate place to put up a lasting memorial. And in consultation with others, including PCOC Board members, city council members, Pasadena Heritage, and other friends and colleagues of Dr. Winter, we all agreed it was a most fitting location.”
The Pasadena Convention Center’s Exhibition Hall is indeed the perfect venue to house the tribute. It was here that ‘California Design 1910,’ an important exhibition of Arts & Crafts work, was held from October 15 to December 1, 1974. According to a news article published in the Pasadena Star-News on February 27, 2011, ‘California Design 1910’ was organized by Eudorah Moore and California Design, a spin-off from the Pasadena Art Museum. In the exhibition catalog, Moore wrote an introductory essay on ‘California and the Arts and Crafts Ideal’ and Dr. Winter followed with an extensive essay on ‘The Arroyo Culture.’ The author noted that the exhibition catalog is a veritable textbook on the Arts & Crafts peak period between about 1895 and World War I.
It took a village to create what Philibosian and Seifert envisioned. And during the unveiling, Philibosian acknowledged the Pasadena Heritage, the Gamble House, Pasadena Museum of History, and the Blinn House Foundation. She gave special thanks to Dale Brown of Onyx Architects, and graphic designer Scott Garland.
“When Dale Brown of Onyx Architects was asked to produce a tribute to Dr. Robert Winter he assigned Scott Garland, a local graphic designer who was born and raised in Pasadena and a graduate of Art Center College of Design,” Philibosian expounded. “As fate would have it, for 23 years Scott and his wife Karen lived in the 1911 historic landmark bungalow which would become the first historic district of Monrovia. During that time, their home was featured in the American Bungalow magazine and photographed by Alex Vertikoff. Scott even had his own copy of American Bungalow Style co-authored by Dr. Winter and Alex Vertikoff. Not only did Scott’s familiarity with the Arts and Crafts Movement influence his design decision but this project could not have been completed without the cooperation of many who graciously gave their time to be interviewed for this very piece behind us. Their insights and memories of ‘Bungalow Bob’ all contributed to what we hope will be a lasting and fitting tribute to this remarkable man.”
Mayor Tornek speaks of Dr. Winter’s significant contributions | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
Pasadena elected officials, led by Mayor Terry Tornek, were on hand to celebrate the occasion. Mayor Tornek, whom Philibosian introduced as someone who greatly appreciates and promotes art and aesthetics of historic preservation in the city of Pasadena, gave his remarks.
“I’m delighted to see so many people turn out for this – this is really a great event for us (I have notes because Bob would expect no less). Dr. Robert Winter, as you heard in Ann’s wonderful speech, was a Pasadenan of national renown. And if we had a tradition of naming people as historic treasures, I think he would have been among the first to be identified. He was an inspiration, a writer, a mentor, a teacher, an instigator, and he was a dedicated proponent of good architecture and its effects on the community. He was both expert and charming which, I think, helps a lot in promoting a cause.
“We were so fortunate that his primary community was indeed Pasadena. An architectural historian, well-known author, professor of ideas (great title that was) at Occidental for many years, Dr. Winter taught generations how to look at and appreciate historic buildings and places throughout Los Angeles and across the country. In terms of his local impact, Bob was among the first to proclaim that the city of Pasadena needed a historic preservation ordinance to confer landmark status on key buildings, identify critical properties and, most of all, to protect them. He, along with his close friend, L.A. Times columnist Miv Schaaf, who lived around the corner, drafted our city’s cultural heritage ordinance and he served on the board of the first cultural heritage commission. Later he rejoined the commission and served again.
“He also called for an uprising of local residents to champion and support that ordinance and the work of the commission as well as the general cause of historic preservation in the city. And that, in fact, gave rise to the formation of Pasadena Heritage and its mission which has been so effective down through the years and, ultimately, led to my arrival as planning director for the city of Pasadena. I’m afraid that ‘Bungalow Bob’ was responsible for me being here as well.
“So I’m so pleased that the PCOC, with the encouragement of Dianne Philibosian, has taken the time to create this wonderful lasting tribute to Dr. Robert Winter and make it a place where lots of people will come and see it for years to come. We treasure our history in Pasadena – it means a lot to us and it’s responsible in many ways for the kind of community we are. People like ‘Bungalow Bob’ really are the key contributors to making that happen. It’s not just about the buildings, which are important, but it’s really about the sense of community that we’ve developed in Pasadena. So I’m grateful to Bob, I’m grateful to those of you who invested in spending time to remember him and to memorialize him, and I hope that going forward we can be worthy of the causes he championed but also be as good-humored about it as he was.”
Karen Winters Fine Art display booth at Craftsman Weekend 2019 | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Beacon Media News
After the tribute was unveiled, everyone raised their champagne glass (not martini, which would have been his preference) to toast Dr. Robert W. Winter, Ph.D.
Seifert declared, “We thank you for your scholarship, your humor, your multiple contributions to so many fields of endeavor. May this wall commemorate your extraordinary legacy to the city of Pasadena.”
Then Philibosian recited Dr. Winter’s trademark song, “And all those who gaze upon it in the land of the bungalow, away from the ice and snow, away from the cold to the land of gold, out where the poppies grow, to the land of the setting sun and the home of the orange blossom, to the land of fruit and honey.” And Seifert ended it with, “In this land of your bungalow to Robert Winter Ph.D.”
Her emceeing duties finished, Philibosian returned to her table to chat with colleagues and other friends of the late Dr. Winter. She capped the evening with a wish, “We’re hoping this will be called the Robert Winter Historic Exhibition Hall – that as things evolve and progress, people will start calling it that.”
Let this mark the start of the fulfillment of that wish.
Originally published on 28 October 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
Shown left to right: Angela Gulner, Geoff Elliott, and Zach Kenney | Photo by Craig Schwartz / A Noise Within
Renowned American playwright, actor, and director Sam Shepard was born on November 5, 1943 at Fort Sheridan, a military base just outside of Chicago, Illinois. His father served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and continued to serve in the U. S. Air Force after the war. Shepard’s family moved all over the United States and to Guam before eventually settling in Duarte.
While Shepard was attending Duarte High School, he got interested in theatre and writing. And it was in Duarte where his Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Buried Child’ began to take shape. This hauntingly absurd play, which A Noise Within (ANW) first produced during their 1997-1998 season is back home once more.
On stage from October 13 through November 23, ‘Buried Child’ is directed by ANW’s Producing Artistic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott. It stars ANW’s Co-Producing Artistic Director Geoff Elliott as Dodge, Deborah Strang as Halie, Michael Manuel as Tilden, Frederick Stuart as Bradley, Zach Kenney as Vince, Angela Gulner as Shelly, and Apollo Dukakis as Father Dewis.
Shepard’s powerful masterpiece, set in America’s heartland, details with wry humor the disintegration of the American Dream. When 22-year old Vince unexpectedly shows up at the family farm with his girlfriend Shelly, no one recognizes him. The unraveling of family secrets that follows is a funny, albeit unsettling, look at disillusionment and morality, and how people address and cope with their family’s dysfunction.
Zach Kenney, who’s performing at ANW for the first time, sits down with me at the theatre’s lobby before rehearsal one afternoon. I start our conversation by asking if he’s familiar with Shepard’s play.
“I am very familiar with the play,” Kenney answers. “In fact, it premiered in 1978 in San Francisco – my home town – at the Magic Theatre where I took my first acting class. It’s over by fort Mason which is a beautiful part of the city. In my teenage years, I worked on several productions at the Magic, in association with my training at American Conservatory Theater and in the Young Conservatory. That Shepard debuted ‘Buried Child’ there was memorable for me.
“It’s a story about a family in the Midwest. Shepard himself grew up in Fort Sheridan in Illinois so he knows that feel. All great American playwrights, I think, are essentially asking, in one way or another, ‘What does it mean to be American?’ I think Shepard takes that a step further, he puts a finer point in it, in asking ‘What does it mean to be a part of the American family dynamic?’ So a lot of his plays are about family. This play is definitely so. He’s spoken to the fact that it’s semi-autobiographical in some sense. While it incorporates elements of absurdity and surrealism, it also integrates his relationship with his father and his place in the family. I play a character named Vince who, with his new girlfriend Shelly, is ostensibly from New York and is traveling all this way to try to pick up where he left off after leaving several years ago.”
Zach Kenney | Courtesy photo / A Noise Within
Kenney continues, “Shepard himself had gone away to New York – he was involved in the jazz music scene in New York in the 1970s. Then later in life, he tried to reconcile with his father, with whom he had a very complicated relationship. A lot of what he brought in writing this play was very personal. So I’ve tried to consider some of those elements in my own take on the piece. This is my first Shepard play and this undoubtedly is the play that I’ve always wanted to do. I think it’s one of the great roles for a young American actor to tackle. This role is funny – Shepard once said that the role of Vince has always been problematic for him. All the other characters are fragments – figments of the real thing. But the character of Vince is more true to who he was, it’s the real McCoy. And, like our acting teachers used to say, it’s hardest to play yourself. I think, in that way he had – I don’t want to put too fine a point on it – maybe a shyness about the character of Vince.
“But I don’t have that reticence of revealing myself. For me it’s exciting not only because of what the script has me say but also of what the script has me doing. Vince can’t figure out why no one recognizes him. It’s confusing and haunting but there are moments that are written in where, perhaps, there’s a glimmer of recognition between Vince and his father. That isn’t something that Shepard wrote a big speech about. It’s simply between two actors on stage mostly in silence. And that’s one of his real genius – he created these moments that are alive between actors. He knew it from different angles; having been a playwright, actor, and director himself, he was able to switch those lenses.”
Shepard didn’t really make clear Vince’s circumstances. Kenney describes, “He’s been away for about six years – we don’t really know why he went away and why he decided to make the trip back at this moment. He’s got a young beautiful girlfriend, so perhaps the ambitions of this relationship has brought him back. Those were all the juicy, fun things to figure out together in the room. But it’s not explicit in the play. Not to be hokey about it, but I think Vince, in a lot of ways, embodies the future of America. I think three years after the end of Vietnam and 40 years after the Dust Bowl era, Shepard was looking back on America – the ground we just tread. And he wanted to ask what’s the next generation gonna have? That rings true today, obviously, for the challenges, the changes, and the prospects of the American heartland. It’s self-seeing what’s around the bend in this modern era.”
Did Rodriguez-Elliott give specific directions to him in playing Vince? I query. Kenney replies, “I wouldn’t say she gave me any directions at the outset, in terms of her framework. She has a very generous way with actors – she knows a lot of these folks. Hearing her in the room, getting a feel for her style, wasn’t hard to do. She has a really great way of leading without constricting. ‘Buried Child’ has elements of surrealism, absurdity, metaphor, heightened imagery, and you have to explore those moments, and figure out what’s inside of them and what they’re all about. And that’s how I want to work as well – by playing the extremes; it’s always easier to reel it back in. She’s allowed me to really explore some of the bold moments in this play and take risks because, I think, in the end, that’s what Shepard’s works demand of the artists who tackle them. He said his favorite actors are adventurous, outrageous, willing to jump off the cliff. That’s the kind of attitude and approach you have to bring to this piece.
“Shepard also talked a lot about the rhythm of this play – about how it’s musical, almost like jazz where things are going at a very nice clip and then there’s a long pause, even silence. Reading his plays is fascinating – it’s a really well conducted orchestra and you can hear the rhythm very well in your head, in the text, as you’re reading the play. So having fidelity to that serves us well, because it earns some of those changes in pitch and timbre and melody.”
‘Buried Child’ ensemble | Photo by Craig Schwartz / A Noise Within
Kenney goes on to describe his process, “I like to do a lot of research on the playwright, the time period, all the dramaturgical elements. I wouldn’t normally do such an extensive research into the playwrights and their arc as much as I did with Shepard – he’s such an icon in the American theatre. With his recent passing, and knowing they had wanted to take up this play again for quite a long time, I really wanted to get inside his head and get to know him a bit more.
“Then I work up the script, break down scenes. I think about the words that are being used and why – I study the text and the language a lot. With this play there are lots of repetition of words and ideas by various characters at different parts of the play. And none in the sense that in your first seeing that might hit you, but after working on the play that can be really useful. Shepard’s so great at getting at the heart of the matter between characters’ relationships so studying the text, becoming an expert on the script can really feed into the rhythm and the power of where he’s trying to get you to go as an actor.”
I ask whether him having seen the play before helped or restricted. Kenney replies, “I wouldn’t go see it now if there was a neighboring production. I saw it when I was 16 – it was a long time ago. What I remember about it are some of the images, the stage pictures. But I don’t recall the line readings, how they said something. So my performance is all fresh and it’s my own take. More than anything, it just grew in me a deep admiration for the play. It was with me through my development as an actor – watching it as a teenager and going through college, then rereading this play and finding it again at this time in my life. I’m really excited to do this because I’ve held it in my heart for a while.”
Then I inquire if there were things he discovered as he delved into the play, which he didn’t know coming in. Kenney says, “There were several revelations that happened. Just in my general experience, a lot of actors don’t like to have too firm of a take on their first reading. And I’m in that school of thought – I want to be open to what the other actors bring into the experience before I set something. In the first couple of weeks, after I have some of that in my ear, I like to go back and spend a lot of time with the script to get a better understanding of what’s going on. I take a particular speech or dialogue exchange between the characters and, almost like a mantra, repeat that and ruminate – let that simmer for a while. Sometimes there’s a stream of consciousness that can give some revelations about what’s going on immediately prior to and subsequent to that exchange. It’s sort of seeing it at 35,000 feet and then doing a swan dive and just sort of really doing a big zoom on everything. Occasionally that helps you detach from little habits that can begin to develop that aren’t necessarily fruitful.
Zach Kenney as Vince | Photo by Craig Schwartz / A Noise Within
“Another thing that I would like to mention is, there’s this speech towards the end of the play that Vince delivers. Shelly, his girlfriend, asked ‘You disappeared. What happened last night?’ Vince went for a long drive, rain was coming down, and he saw himself in the windshield. As he was studying his face in the windshield, that image begins to change into what looks like his father’s face, and continues to change into his grandfather’s face. And it has a profound effect on Vince. I think it’s a beautiful image and the words are really impactful. And I asked myself, ‘What is Shepard saying about what Vince is going through at this moment? And I had a sort of epiphany – this is Vince’s vision quest. I have a deep admiration and affinity for Native American cultures. The idea of a vision quest – a young man going off to either a sacred ground or a place he was unfamiliar with at a point when he was maturing in the family line, having some sort of vision, and often returning and seeking the advice of people back home about what it meant. It has an effect on bringing that person into the family fold. That idea had a big impression on me in terms of inspiring what that journey – that moment – was all about for Vince.
“Shepard liked to discuss the idea of ancestors, heritage, and family line. At one time, he wrote about looking at pictures of some of his relatives from the 1800s – the bone structure and elements of the face were all the same. Even though he presumably never knew these people, he’s inextricably connected to them. That line is inescapable, for better or worse. Again, going back to what I said before about a lot of his work being about the American family unit, that epiphany served me in the rehearsal period.”
Kenney adds, “One other thing I didn’t know when I started this, is that this play was written in neighboring Duarte – which is just a stone’s throw away. He said he wrote it in a trailer at the old ranch house that his family had – it was like an avocado farm or ranch. That was a really cool thing for me. When our audiences come out to see it here, and the lights come up on stage, they’re doing so under the very same sky and landscape as those which Shepard wrote it. That connection of place and history and time, there’s a bond there that will make our audiences, in some way, family. Personally, that’s been the thrill for me about making the drive to Pasadena – seeing this beautiful landscape and thinking of Shepard up in the hills, writing this play.”
Some plays have lessons that the audience can take way. Asked if there’s any in this play, Kenney answers, “There’s much to consider on the drive home from this play as there is during it. This is a play that comes at you in this vivid surge and, not to presuppose, I think on first seeing it when you walk away certainly Shepard would want you to still be considering what questions they were asking of themselves and of each other. This isn’t a play that wraps everything up neatly with a bow, which you digest during the viewing and you take away a couple of little savory nuggets. I think this is a play that works on you over time and that’s one of the masterful things about what he’s created. Again, I think it’s one of the reasons why it won a Pulitzer and why it gets produced as often as it does. One of the impacts it’s had on me is listening from all sides. Every character in this play has strong needs and comes from a very disparate place in their personal journey. And, somehow, they come together and those things get worked out in an interesting way.
“Let me also point out that Shepard claimed he never wanted to leave things nice and neat. He said, ‘As soon as people see my work and feel that they get it or know exactly what it’s all about, that sort of kills it. That weakens it in a way.’ I think one of the many great things he’s crafted is an ending full of possibility but not devoid of everything we just saw. I think there’s hope, but there’s also change and revelation from the characters. Shepard has put together this group of people and starts them at one place, something happens in the middle, and by the end they’re changed. It could only be that way. It’s inevitable. The way in which he gets us there, that’s the awesome thing about this piece. This play doesn’t end as much as it lands in a different place than where it began.”
Originally published on 15 October 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens | Courtesy photo
The year 1919 was significant for so many reasons but none would affect the art scene and cultural life of the San Gabriel Valley more than the founding of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. And we have Henry and Arabella Huntington to thank for bestowing on us their incomparable legacy.
An exhibition called ‘Nineteen Nineteen,’ which opened September 21 and will be on view through January 20, 2020, at the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery showcases 275 items from Henry and Arabella Huntington’s vast collections, some of which have never been displayed.
Co-curators James Glisson, interim chief curator of American art, and Jennifer Watts, curator of photography and visual culture, led a team from the three divisions and went through the institutions massive storehouse of 11 million items. The objects in the exhibition range from posters from the German Revolution, abstract art, suffragist magazines, children’s books, aeronautic manuals, self-help guides for soldiers returning home from World War I, and a book hand-printed by Virginia Woolf at her kitchen table. The thread that ties them all together is that they were all acquired in 1919.
During a preview of ‘Nineteen Nineteen,’ Glisson and Watts walk members of the press around the Boone Gallery to show the items, explain their significance, share their experience, and add their personal insights.
“This project took about two and half years from the very beginning to the end,” begins Glisson. “I went through, probably, 3,000 items, but it could have been more. And a lot of time was spent finding things from 1919 that were interesting, because there were a lot of stuff that weren’t,” he adds with a laugh.
“Or visually compelling,” inserts Watts. “Gathering these things was incredibly labor intensive but fun at the same time. I have to point out, though, that we had research assistants, interns, and grant assistants who did a lot of work – it was a collective endeavor. It involved every curatorial staff across all divisions – the library, the art museum, and the botanical gardens. We knew some things to look for and others were hunches. We asked our colleagues for assistance and they came to bat. They helped us find things we never would have unearthed on our own.”
The ‘1919’ Exhibition at The Huntington | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
Glisson expounds, “Often, it was ‘There’s this great thing, I think it’s from 1919;’ ‘Oh yes, it is.’ This is where the process was different. We knew where we wanted to take it but until we gathered the material together, we couldn’t tell a story. We didn’t know what the story was before we had the material. The verbs came when this checklist was two-thirds through – and we knew what the themes would be and gave it some shape. As Jennifer said before, we had to just be incredibly open to where the material was taking us. It’s like, we see a piece and we say ‘What does this mean?’ Or, sometimes, it’s ‘This is interesting, what is it?’”
“I like to take the analogy of when you look at a centennial and think of the founders, and you put them at the top of your pyramid,” explains Watts. “We decided to invert the pyramid, and put the context and the year at the top. Most of the time, when you’re doing an exhibition, people come up with an idea and they look for the material to support it. We flipped it and said ‘Let’s look at the material and figure out what the bigger ideas and themes are.’”
The exhibition that Glisson and Watts created from that starting point, which Glisson describes as ‘From the global to the local’ is organized around five broad themes – Fight, Return, Map, Move, and Build.
William Allison Sweeney, History of the American Negro in the Great World War, 1919, Cuneo-Henneberry, Chicago | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
Glisson elucidates, “We wanted to harness the large number of 1919-related items here into something provocative, allowing the visitor to interpret the period in a fluid way. Rather than telling a neat, resolved story, we tried to capture the jarring experience of life during a year that everyone understood was an inflection point for world history. Empires had fallen in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Millions had died fighting and in a flu pandemic. Delegates at the Paris Peace Conference tried to sew a tattered world back together. Like today, people felt that irrevocable change was underway. The issues of 2019 – immigrant detention, women’s rights, and the fight for a living – were equally pressing in 1919.”
As detailed in a news release from The Huntington’s Communications Office, the ‘Fight’ section of the exhibit shows that, while the war might have officially ended in 1918, other battles raged on in Los Angeles, the rest of the nation, and Europe. A global influenza pandemic killed millions of people, claiming three percent of the world’s population. Laborers agitated for better pay and safe conditions. Rumors about a Bolshevik plot to upend the U.S. government led to a Red Scare. Violence erupted in a season described as ‘Red Summer’ for its deadly riots and lynchings of African Americans. In 1919, the bill that would clinch American women’s right to vote passed in the Senate, and temperance advocates won their fight for prohibition. Modern artists and writers responded to the tremors of the age, including the carnage of world war, by breaking with convention and tradition.
Items in this section include: German posters related to social and political upheaval; original photographs and materials documenting the flu pandemic here in Pasadena; national strikes and labor unrest; U.S. Marshal records (including mug shots and probation letters from German citizens jailed in Los Angeles during the war); and objects that tell the story of the fight to ratify the 19th amendment.
Victory Loan Flyers, ‘The Spirit of America’ Lithograph, and ‘Americans All’ lithograph | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
The ‘Return’ portion focuses on the immediate aftermath of the Great War, when millions of men and women – including 200,000 African America soldiers – headed for home. Survivors sought to understand and memorialize the war’s events through personal reminiscence and published accounts. Artists, some of whom served overseas, interpreted what they had seen, while others found inspiration in canonical tradition and myth. Popular music and illustrated books also offered safe harbor in tumultuous times.
Materials from this segment comprise: Liberty Loan posters; soldiers’ recollections; a rare Edward Weston portrait of dancer Ruth St. Denis; Cyrus Baldridge’s illustration ‘Study of a Soldier;’ and John Singer Sargent’s ‘Sphinx and Chimaera,’ which depicts a mythological scene.
John Singer Sargent’s ‘Sphinx and Chimaera’ oil on canvas | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
In January 1919, President Woodrow Wilson and Allied heads of state gathered at the Paris Peace Conference to make new maps of a changed world. The carving up of ancient empires created new nations in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa, while regional promoters published maps to highlight Southern California’s capacity for growth. High above Los Angeles – at the Mount Wilson Observatory – the world’s largest telescope was on a nightly quest to chart the universe. In a world turned upside down, maps offered a welcome measure of predictability.
What the charting of territory that occurred that year meant and its resulting significance are explored in the ‘Maps’ section. On view is a first edition of ‘Traite de Paix,’ the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 29,1919, with a map showing new territorial configurations; an album of autograph signatures gathered at the Paris Peace Conference by T.E. Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia; rare maps depicting population, transportation, and demographic data in Los Angeles and the nation at the time; and original astronomical photographs of the moon and constellations.
Huntington was obsessed with maps | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
While working on this project, Glisson and Watts found out that Huntington was obsessed with maps. She says, “If you think about it, it’s not that surprising given that he was probably one of the most influential people in setting the course of how our sprawling city came to be. We discovered the spectacular 39-foot long Pacific Electric linen map that shows the real estate holdings contiguous to the line which is part of Huntington’s development scheme. People may not realize that while the Pacific Electric was a component of the world’s largest transportation network at the time, it really was a loss leader for Huntington. He was most interested in getting people to the communities that he’d developed – Huntington Beach, San Marino, Glendale.
“This is a one-of-a-kind map and has never before been exhibited. It is an incredible document – you could see the level of detail on it. Every redaction, every addition is recorded by him. It would have been something that the engineers – and Huntington with them, because he was very detail-oriented – would be poring over. I like to call this the papyri of transportation. It basically shows the Pasadena short line, which was one of the first lines that Huntington put in to the Pacific Electric system and it goes from Old Town Pasadena all the way to the edge of downtown Los Angeles.”
This Pacific Electric map display also falls under the ‘Move’ portion of this exhibition, which examines the ways 20th century technologies – planes, trains, and automobiles – propelled a society on the go. Henry Huntington’s network of streetcar lines brought Angelenos from ‘the mountains to the sea’ and to far-flung deserts and farms. A burgeoning national road system made automobile travel possible and pleasurable as never before.
Also taking the spotlight in this section is the interstate automobile adventure of five friends, including famed aviator Orville Wright, assembled in a rare photographically illustrated volume titled ‘Sage Brush and Sequoia;’ works by T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press.
The last portion of the exhibition, ‘Build,’ focuses on Henry E. Huntington and the institution he created. In 1919, Huntington announced what some, including his New York librarians, had begun to suspect. He planned to load boxcars with the ‘world’s greatest private library’ – some 120,000 volumes – and send it off to the country’s western shores. By then, the property’s palm, desert, rose, and Japanese gardens were planted under the guidance of William Hertrich, Huntington’s landscaper. The mansion, designed by Myron Hunt, was completed in 1910. With the construction of the library building, the keystone fell into place for what would become the beloved tripartite institution we know today.
The George Washington Wall installation | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
A George Washington Wall – an installation of paintings – is also part of the exhibition. “This little section is an homage to Huntington’s own collecting and what he was doing in 1919,” Watts elucidates. “In 1919, he purchased four stunning portraits of George Washington, including the most famous one by Gilbert Stuart. Why was be buying portraits of George Washington in 1919? Firstly, it was the trend. There were a lot of things coming on the market then and George Washington was the most iconic figure at that stage of America. And, perhaps, because Huntington did this audacious thing of locating this giant institution and collection on the West Coast, for which he took a lot of criticism that he was taking what was considered the cultural patrimony of America and Europe and exporting it to this cultural wasteland of Los Angeles. I think Huntington wanted to ensure this institution took its rightful place in the cultural landscape and who better to do that than George Washington, the first in the hearts of his countrymen? And, of course, it also demonstrates Huntington’s admiration for first founders.”
Beautiful Medieval books | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
In December of 1919, Huntington invited members of the prestigious New York Authors Club to his Fifth Avenue home. At that exclusive event, he shared with them 35 treasures in which he took special pride.
Watts declares, “This was significant for a couple of reasons – we had very little understanding of what he liked or favored. We know what his collecting interests were but we don’t know what his personal favorites were because he didn’t write or talk about them. This group of objects gives us a little insight as well as showcases his overarching collecting interest. Out of these 35 items, we chose some things that we thought were really outstanding and not generally on exhibition. They include: Benjamin Franklin’s handwritten autobiography; Maj. John Andre’s Revolutionary War-era maps; the first Bible printed in North America in a native language, which is also called the Eliot Indian Bible after the Englishman who translated it; and Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman’s four-part memoir never before examined by scholars. The pages open to the redaction pertaining to his mental illness which ran in his family.”
Rounding up the exhibition are displays related to the make-up of this institution. Says Watts, “One of the things I like to tell people is that in 1907, at the beginning of Huntington’s collecting career, there was a big article in the New York Times about the most important collectors in the country and Huntington appeared nowhere. In 1919, when this institution opened, he was called one of the world’s greatest collectors, having one of the world’s best private libraries. How did Huntington do that? He was a consolidator and amalgamator – he bought huge libraries all at once. He had purchased four of the libraries that were mentioned in the 1907 article. We included several book bills to show the range of people he was dealing with and also the kinds of things he was buying. A favorite of mine is the one from Rosenbach, who was one of his major dealers. He delivered $121,000 worth of Shakespeare’s works to the San Marino estate. That gives you a sense that he purchased aggressively.”
Myron Hunt presentation drawing, ink on linen | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
“Among the many surprising things we learned, we determined that in the early years he was planning on importing all sorts of seeds and plants not as a collector but to landscape his real estate holdings,” Glisson discloses. “He was trying to figure out what would work here and it evolved into a teaching collection, something akin to what Harvard was doing in his botanic garden. The other thing that was really fascinating was that in the beginning he thought he could finance this whole enterprise entirely on citrus. Through all sorts of formulation of various fertilizer and types of trees, Hertrich was able to tell Huntington which are the best varieties and how much they’re making. Unfortunately, citrus isn’t the most reliable revenue source and, on top of that, 1919 was a bad year for citrus. Huntington ultimately had to sell some properties to finance this place. In 1919, Huntington had 600 acres; today his estate has 207 acres.”
Watts leads us to a small section, explaining, “This is a kind of homage to Hertrich. Here we see some of the early photographs of the property that he took and his little notebook with a listing of birds which Arabella loved – there was an aviary here with 500 birds. Hertrich, in addition to overseeing the citrus and the grounds, also had to keep track of all the birds. A favorite of Arabella’s was the toucan and we have an original citrus crate label with a toucan, the only one we know that exists.
“We also found something interesting – the vast labor force that actually made this place come to be was not well represented. Although they didn’t necessarily go around taking pictures and keeping documents of their workers, we were able to find payroll records. We discovered that a third of the work force during the time were Mexicans from Mexico or Spanish, and they were paid significantly less than the European and American work force. It wasn’t surprising, but we’re starting to have scholars weed through and work with those documents that were heretofore unexamined.”
“And what would a show about Huntington be without talking about how much he was worth in 1919? He was worth $69 million that year and we have these preprinted ledgers and balance sheets, which he kept month by month, that showed his assets.”
“I will finish with a picture of Henry and Arabella – seen here as a young woman, not the woman we have come to think of as Arabella Huntington, the dowager wearing a widow’s veil,” pronounces Watts. “She was very much behind the scenes of this enterprise and was, in many ways, a huge force to be reckoned with. Her interests, as you may know, were in French decorative art and British portraiture, which he went on to collect later in time.
“When you exit the exhibition, you’ll see this great quote by Herman Hesse which we felt is emblematic of this project and of the year 1919: Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world’s phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again.”
Asked what he learned about Huntington that he didn’t know coming into this project, Glisson replies, “I haven’t been here that long so I didn’t know a great deal beforehand. In reading reminiscences about him and what people said, my takeaway is that he was someone who believed in trusting other people and he was very optimistic. He was always telling his staff to trust people to do the right thing. I thought that was very significant and interesting for a tremendously successful businessman and it suggests he must have found people he trusted and liked and then let them do their job. And that, to a large degree, is how you run a grand institution. In a sense, he clearly wasn’t that interested in being a book collector in 1905 or 1906 and then he got interested and focused on it. When it came to the grounds, his landscaper Hertrich suggested that they be systematic about it and create a scientific botanical garden like Harvard and he agreed right away. So there’s trust and this openness and a kind of capriciousness that, I think, shaped what we are today – an art museum, a botanical garden, and a library – which is a kind of unlikely combination.”
Displays in the ‘Return’ section | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
I inquire what they want people to get from the exhibition. Watt responds, “I always want people to leave with a sense of curiosity and wonder. For me, it was important that people understand the depth and wealth of our collection, that we’re an active research institution where scholars come in every day to study these materials, and that we have an active, vibrant collection which continues to grow.
Glisson says, “One, I hope that people, particularly those from L.A. and Southern California, come to the show and are surprised. Two, I hope they find something that they want to learn more about. And three, I hope they find something in the show that speaks to their own experience which, I think, is pretty likely because there’s all sorts of materials. Those are my hopes, and the biggest one is just for visitors to be very surprised.”
German Revolution Photos | Photo by Brianna Chu / Beacon Media News
As for his favorite display among all the objects, Glisson reveals, “I love this red poster. Visually, this just jumps off the wall. It’s an incredibly powerful thing. And then there’s the text – Achtung! Stehenbleiben verboten! Auf Zusammenrottungen wird rucksichtslos geschossen – which translates to ‘Warning! Stopping is prohibited! Crowds of rioters will be indiscriminately shot.’ My German isn’t so good and I kept reading it and wondered about it. It turns out that this poster would have been printed during the German Revolution in January 1919, and it was posted on a government building with armed soldiers watching around it. Talk about this poster being a snap shot of history and how improbable that it got all the way from Berlin, maybe from the Reichstag, to Los Angeles.”
That Henry E. Huntington had chosen to establish the institution that would bear his name in the San Gabriel Valley in 1919, when he could have done so anywhere in the United States, was quite improbable as well. It might have been seen by some as a foolhardy decision at the time, but we want to think it proved to be a stroke of genius!
Originally published on 8 October 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
‘Gem of the Ocean’ ensemble | Photo by Craig Schwartz / A Noise Within
August Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, wrote a cycle of ten plays collectively called the ‘American Century Cycle’ which he set in a different decade of the 20th century. Each of the plays chronicles the complexities of the changing social and historical landscape of the African American experience over the course of a hundred years.
‘Gem of the Ocean,’ set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Wilson grew up, is the first play in the cycle. It is the second production in A Noise Within’s 2019-2020 season and is on stage from September 22 to November 16. Directed by Gregg T. Daniel, it stars Veralyn Jones as Aunt Ester Tyler, Evan Lewis Smith as Citizen Barlow, Kevin Jackson as Solly Two Kings, Chuma Gault as Caesar Wilks, and Carolyn Ratteray as Black Mary Wilks.
Ratteray, a resident artist, was previously seen on the ANW stage when she portrayed the role of Beline in ‘The Imaginary Invalid.’ She graciously sits down with me an hour before rehearsal to talk about August Wilson, the play, and her role.
She begins with a revelation, “Gem of the Ocean’ holds a special position because it’s the first play in the ‘American Century Cycle’ even though he wrote it last. I love that he went back to the beginning, to the early 1900s – it takes place in 1904. He wrote in retrospect about how it all started. The date has significance as well. As you’ll read in the program, Aunt Ester is a 285 year-old spiritual advisor for the Hill District Community. If you do the math, the day she was born is 1619 which is the arrival of the first enslaved Africans on the American shores. As she explains in a beautiful monologue, Aunt Ester is a title that was handed down to her and whoever owns that title is the holder of the memories of the African people.
“Aunt Ester’s home address and house of sanctuary – 1839 Wylie Avenue – also has a significance. The year 1839 was the date of the enslaved people’s rebellion on La Amistad, the ship which traveled from West Africa to its final destination, which was supposed to have been Cuba. However, the enslaved people revolted and made the Spanish enslavers go back to Africa. Instead the Spaniards took the ship to the United States where they faced the Supreme Court to decide if they were, in fact, slaves or free people.
“August Wilson left gems of history within his text. By chronicling each play throughout the entire 1900s, he laid down the history of Africans, particularly Africans in the Americas. It was exciting to unpack everything during the first few days of table work. Coincidentally, 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’ arrival. How meaningful it is to stage this play now! Though I’ve seen some of his work, this is the first play of his that I’ve been part of. It’s amazing to be able to witness his brilliance as a play maker, world creator, and story teller. That’s the great thing about being an actor, each project is a mini history lesson.”
Ratteray explains, “In the play, a man named Citizen Barlow comes to Aunt Ester’s house because he has done a deed for which he feels a guilt and heaviness that he can’t quite shake. And only by getting his soul washed by Aunt Ester can he feel free again. August Wilson has woven a fascinating mythology that the people who didn’t make it across the water created a city of bones underneath the ocean. Aunt Ester has kept the bill of sale, the receipt that proves that she had been bought and sold, which she makes into a paper boat. She gives it to Citizen saying, ‘This is the Gem of the Ocean and you have to get on this boat to go to the City of Bones.’
Shown left to right: Veralyn Jones, Carolyn Ratteray, and Evan Lewis Smith | Photo by Craig Schwartz / A Noise Within
“The Middle Passage is the name given to the route that the ship with enslaved people took from Africa, through the Caribbean, up to the coast of America. Out of every 100 people kidnapped, only 40 lived. Obviously a lot of people jumped overboard when they could and a lot of them died because they were packed like sardines for months. It was a three- or four-month voyage, with no food and no bathrooms. The conditions were horrible. They were allowed a few minutes a day to walk, then they were put back in chains.
“August Wilson positioned this ritual which, I feel, is a call for Africans in the Americas to say ‘We have to honor this Middle Passage, the defining event of our experience here in this country and which has plagued us ever since. We have to lift it up and come to terms with it – we have to grieve, celebrate, and ritualize this Middle Passage. This play is building towards this moment when this man goes to the City of Bones and it’s the big theme of the play – that once you face your past, you can move on to your future.”
Asked to describe her character, Ratteray says, “Black Mary is Aunt Ester’s protégé. She wants to take on this mantle but she is, at the same time, reticent and hesitant, nervous and scared. She wonders what it means to be the holder of all these memories. It’s a daunting task for someone in her 20s. All the characters take a beautiful journey in the play and hers, in particular, starts from a place of being in service to others – Aunt Ester and the men in the household. Her life has been prescribed by the men in her world and by the strong dominating force of Aunt Ester.”
Ratteray, who gives a superb performance, cannot have a more different background from the character she plays. She says, “My dad came from Bermuda and my mother was from Georgia. He was amazing with his family chronology – he has all the papers about our family back to the very first person who bore our last name. They wanted us to know our lineage, to know who we are, and told us to carry that with us. They wanted the best for their kids and they put a huge emphasis on education. I went to a white private school for a good part of my growing up – 4th to 12th grade. My parents knew that it was totally dangerous for me to be in that situation because I could lose my connection to my history and to who I am. But they never let me do that. From a very early age, they told me about our history and gave me the biographies of Malcolm X, Dr. King, and other civil rights activists, to read. They planted seeds and created an environment that later on made me incredibly curious to know what it was like to live in the United States at an earlier time. You have to know your history or you’ll get swallowed by the dominant system. Which is what August wants us to do – to speak our truth and in our language. He wanted to lift the African American vernacular to a place of poetry. It’s amazing, because so often people would say ‘that’s not correct English – you can’t say ain’t’ and if it’s not perfect King’s English you’re somehow less smart or less advanced. It’s seeing your reflection wherever you can see it and having a sense of pride.
Carolyn Ratteray | Courtesy Photo / A Noise Within
I ask Ratteray how she approached her role. She replies, “I always try to find what I have in common with the character. There’s a scene where Citizen tells Black Mary to come to his bedroom that night and she stops him in his tracks, saying ‘What do you have to offer?’ She then goes into this monologue about how men don’t see the fullness of who she is. She’s looking for someone who doesn’t only want what he can take from her but has something to give back to her. She doesn’t want to be used anymore; she wants to be appreciated and valued. She wants to learn how to be seen in this world. She knows she has to be right with herself before she can be right for anybody else. I am awed by the heart with which she says it – she’s been wounded by these men – but she’s still holding on to the belief that she can demand better for herself. She wanted to wait for the right person and wait for herself to bloom so she can be with someone else. That’s such a deep line. It’s brilliant! I read that and I identified so strongly with that value. In my life I have spent a lot of time in self-reflection and constantly asking how I can make myself right, to come to the table with the fullness of myself. That type of grit and force of soul, I saw right away; this was a woman I can know.”
Continues Ratteray, “Soon after that scene, she stands up to Aunt Ester and says ‘I’m going to do things my way if I’m going to stay here.’ And that’s her being right with herself as well. It can be hard to stand up for oneself in this society and speak truth to power. It can be intimidating. But you can see the relief and growth that develops after she says it. That’s something I can relate to.
Although Black Mary doesn’t say outright that she’s ready to take on the role of Aunt Ester, that’s when she demonstrates she’s ready to take the mantle. And Aunt Ester says to her, ‘What took you so long?’ It was as if Aunt Ester was waiting for Black Mary this whole time to come to that realization.
“The dynamics change after that. She makes a very clear choice – she’s aligning with Aunt Ester. In order for Black Mary to take this mantle, she has to let her worldly family – Caesar – go. And that’s the one thing she hadn’t wanted to do; she had been riding this for as long as she can because he was of her blood and giving up on him meant she had nothing left. She walked that line but as events progress in this play, she sees that she doesn’t want to be associated with what he’s doing. She has to break away from him and find her own voice and footing. In the monologue towards the end of the play she says, ‘Caesar, I don’t knew you. You’re not my brother.’ And with that, the tie is broken and she’s fully realized. She becomes Aunt Ester’s successor.”
Chuma Gault as Caesar Wilks with Ratteray | Photo by Craig Schwartz / A Noise Within
In doing this play, Ratteray discovered something she hadn’t known going in, “I knew August Wilson was a genius – he has a Pulitzer and an amazing body of work. But actually understanding how much of a visionary, art maker, and political activist he was, was an eye-opener. The amount of history that he packed in had surely gone over my head the first time. It’s amazing how he built in those first 40 years after enslavement in this play. His lines are so well crafted with poetry, music, and rhythm as well as plain information. For two and a half hours, he told us a story about what this world was like post-reconstruction. The artistry by which he did that is astonishing to discover. At the same time he has painted a universal portrait of humanity. He tells us to live this life with integrity, whatever our race, gender, or orientation. The messages in this play are beautiful reminders of how to be in this world. It’s exciting to hear that every night and getting a history lesson at the same time.”
Ratteray adds, “August Wilson wrote a really fascinating historical series about the post reconstruction, into the Jim Crow era. At the most basic level, I hope our audiences enjoy the play; August Wilson is an amazing story teller. Ideally, I would love it if they could see themselves in those characters and hear the messages. The values that are imparted in the story are true to all of us regardless of our ethnicity and gender. Who hasn’t felt that tug of integrity? Who hasn’t asked themselves ‘Should I live my truth or should I hide it?’ ‘Should I align myself with the power structure or should I speak up and make a stand?’ Whether we’re immigrants who voluntarily arrived in this country recently or enslaved people who were forced to come here long ago, whatever the plethora of differences we have, the questions that make this universal and enduring over the years are the same. What is freedom in this day and age? Who am I? How do I become? What does it mean to face a part of your past in order to move forward? How do I live with myself if I don’t have a conscience? Do I have to compromise?
“I hope they don’t think of it only as a play written by a black playwright and it’s a black experience. While it’s specifically about the black experience, it isn’t exclusive to a particular community, it applies to all of us. August Wilson is one of the greatest American playwrights and he’s writing all of our stories. I hope people are moved; I hope people feel the story in their heart. I do love history, so part of me hopes that it makes people want to read about this period in our history – for them to look where we came from and where we are now. If we don’t know more about what happened in the past, we can’t cultivate the foundation of compassion for others – for those who are different from ourselves. I’m glad that we’re continuing to tell these stories. Being a part of this cast and crew, and the beautiful tone that Gregg struck from the beginning of what it means to speak these words and tell this history, is such a beautiful gift.”
Originally published on 3 October 2019 in the Pasadena Independent, Arcadia Weekly, and Monrovia Weekly
There are two lines in Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Anthem,’ that go ‘There is a crack, a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.’ The words inspired an original play by E.M. Lewis ‘How the Light Gets In,’ which is currently having its world premiere at Boston Court Pasadena from September 19 to October 28. Directed by Emilie Pascale Beck, the Literary Manager at Boston Court, it stars Amy Sloan and Ryun Yu in the roles of Grace and Haruki, and features Chelsea Kurtz as Kat and Dieterich Gray as Tommy Z.
‘How the Light Gets In’ is an intimate story about four characters – a travel writer who never travels, a Japanese architect who can’t figure out how to build a simple tea house, a gifted tattoo artist who resists the power of his talents, and a homeless girl who lives under a weeping willow tree in the Japanese garden – who live disparate lives that somehow intersect in the most unexpected way.
That peculiar, yet fascinating mix, is enough to pique anyone’s curiosity. Lewis, during a late morning interview, gladly chats about her start in playwriting, her connection to Boston Court, why she conceived this play, and how the four unlikely characters’ lives in ‘How the Light Gets In’ seamlessly blend into each other’s.
The ‘How the Light Gets In’ ensemble | Photo by Craig Schwartz / Boston Court Pasadena
Lewis begins, “I’m from rural Oregon but I went to graduate school at USC and stayed in Los Angeles for quite a while. This is where I became a playwright and I have a lot of friendships and connections to the theatre community here in Los Angeles. I met Emilie then and we’ve wanted to work on something together since. I was involved with ‘Moving Arts,’ a small theatre company in Silver Lake and they’ve done four of my plays over the years – ‘Song of Extinction,’ ‘Infinite Black Suitcase, ‘The Gun Show’ and the latest one was ‘Apple Season.’
While New York is widely known as where theatre happens, there’s a very active theatre community here. There are amazing actors and people who are passionate about creating stories for the stage who often are making a living on film and television. But they love coming back to the theatre because it’s intimate – there’s a relationship between you and the audience. And I love that, especially when the story is so close to me and I can feel myself breathing what they’re breathing. That’s ideal to me as an audience member and a playwright as, I’m sure, it is what actors and directors want.
Playwright E. M. Lewis | Photo courtesy of Tom Sanders Photography / Boston Court Pasadena
Talking about the play that involves people who seem to be in the wrong profession, Lewis describes, “Grace, the main protagonist, is a smart and capable travel writer who loves to read and enjoys what she does. She took care of her parents who were getting older and when they passed away she finds herself, in the middle of her 40s, a little bit isolated. While she has a satisfying career, she’s unmarried and has no family so her life has no meaning to her. When something happens to her, she’s shocked to find out she has no one to emotionally help her with what she’s physically going through.
“The male protagonist is the architect Haruki who lives in Japan but works internationally; he’s been widowed for ten years. His wife was the world to him and when she died, he lost his heart. He poured all his energy into his work and became solitary. While he is prospering professionally, the personal side of his life has been neglected.”
“So these two people find each other at a moment when he is finally, perhaps, maybe, open to the possibility of something new – although he’s not sure that he’s ready for love – and she is in the midst of a crisis, which is really the most terrible moment to come across someone who is lovely and wonderful. She doesn’t feel like herself and is not sure what’s going to happen. Yet, things in this life don’t happen on a schedule or when you want them to, they happen when they happen. So we’ll see whether or not they allow themselves to seize this opportunity. It’s a little love story; I haven’t written very many. It’s quite joyful to have these two characters in my head and in my ears as I was writing the play, and now to see them come to life. It’s really delightful; I think I should write more love stories,” Lewis chuckles.
Continues Lewis, “Tommy Z, the tattoo artist, is a tough character. He owns the shop where he works which is, basically, an abandoned half-demolished building that he bought for a good price. There’s one entire wall missing, where someone drove through. And so he built a wall out of discarded window frames and windows he salvaged from various garbage sites, which created a quilt of light.
“We learn that his life converged with Kat’s at a hospital emergency room. She had been having a rough time – she had hurt herself yet decided to get help. So she finds herself in the ER late one night and takes the last seat, which happens to be beside Tommy, whose brother has overdosed, and not for the first time. They strike up a conversation and a friendship, proving that in the midst of crisis people connect and find each other. Their story ends up intersecting with Grace’s and Haruki’s because Kat has been living under the willow tree in the Japanese garden. While Tommy’s only connection to the garden is through Kat, he gets woven into the tale because his gift as a tattoo artist turns out to be important to some of the other characters in unpredictable ways.”
Choosing her words deliberately, Lewis explains, “The core of the story is that in a moment of crisis, when you are overwhelmed by something that has happened, you are also in a moment of possibility of remaking yourself. Grace who, until that time, has been doing what she’s always done – writing a travel column – finds out she has a health crisis which knocks her off her feet. She’s trying to figure out what to do and how to handle it. And with the help of these strangers who become family to her, she finds her way out the other side and somehow in a better way. Sometimes a catastrophe pushes you to look at your life and see what’s missing, to consider what you want to be, show you a clock that’s ticking, and makes you realize how important it is to do what you want to do right now.”
Amy Sloan as Grace and Ryun Yu as Haruki, the main characters | Photo by Craig Schwartz / Boston Court Pasadena
Asked how she conceived the play, Lewis responds, “Plays are made out of playwrights. What other stuff do we have to make our work from? The story and the characters are entirely fictional but there’s a lot of Grace’s story that comes from me. I had a health crisis about two years ago, which was both shocking and scary, so Grace’s journey mirrors mine a little bit. I began writing the play while I was going through medical procedures and, as usual, it’s writing that saves me. My characters – who dropped into my head – helped me figure out about myself what I have trouble doing. Hearing their voices made me less lonely as I was going through it. And it’s exciting to see that they’re going on stage in a unexpectedly quick time from when I started writing it.”
The genesis of the title, which could be interpreted in so many different ways, helped Lewis craft the play. She reveals, “Titles are really important to me, they’re part of my conception of the play as a whole and what it wants to be. I can’t remember specifically if it just came into my head from knowing the song, or if I was listening to Leonard Cohen while I was writing it, and I went ‘Ah, that’s a great title!’ as sometimes happens. There is a lot of poetry in it. And that image of how the light gets in, for this character, who is in the midst of so much darkness, that’s definitely the central question of the play. Although it doesn’t only apply to her, but to all the characters and in different ways – more literal in some and metaphorical in others.
Lewis recalls that she was present for callbacks during the casting process. “Because this is a world premiere, these characters have not been fully embodied before. It’s so much an ensemble piece so we don’t have to merely consider them as themselves for the characters, but also how they work with each other. There’s a real human connection between each of the characters – one is a love story between Grace and Haruki. And with Grace and Kat, there are tendrils of a maternal relationship. Tommy has his own friendship that’s unique to him but they have to connect with each other. So casting was important and we put people together in different combinations during that casting period.
“I came back again a month ago for our first week of rehearsal. That’s such a golden time for a new play. Everybody’s sitting together – you don’t know each other, you’ve never worked together before – embarking on a new creation. That’s when a lot of fantastic questions arise especially from really, really good actors, about the play and their characters because they are having to figure out ‘Who is this person who I’m becoming?’ ‘What is their journey?’ And nobody looks at your character as carefully as the actors who will be playing them. We had fabulous table work that definitely inspired writing and rewriting during that week and in the time since. Emilie and I have been in conversation via email, sending little tweaks, adjustments, and rewrites.”
“The actors also had to be about the same age as the roles they’re playing because different things happen to us at various times in our life. And this is about four people who are in different places in their journey. An actress who’s 19 years old would not have the physical looks or the experience to act like someone who’s 40, which is Grace’s age in the play. They don’t have to be the exact age, they only have to be as close to that stage in their life.”
Chelsea Kurtz plays Kat and Dieterich Gray takes on the role of Tommy Z | Photo by Craig Schwartz
“What is important to you when casting the roles for your play?,” I query. Lewis responds, “I was mostly the silent partner, Emilie was leading the auditions. But what I was looking for were truth, vulnerability, and connection. You can feel it when someone is just putting on a façade versus someone who’s sharing their genuine self with you, especially in a small theatre. Vulnerability is also essential because the characters go through some things, and face some things about themselves. They have big questions about the universe and what they’re going through. So these have to be actors who are willing to open up and let us in. And, lastly, connection. This is a play that reaches out to the audience and, more and more, as I write, I find myself wanting to include the audience in the story- telling. I think of theatre as the old-fashioned medium – that what we do today is so connected and similar to people thousands of years ago sitting around the campfire telling each other stories. That was an intimate and connected experience and I want to make the kind of theatre that makes us feel that way – here we are in the darkness and sharing something that takes us through that whole emotional rainbow of feelings. Stories that help us ward off the darkness.”
A prolific playwright, Lewis has written about 13 or 14 plays. She states, “Most of them have been out in the world. I’ve been very lucky to have plays across the country and also in Edinburgh and a few other places. My play ‘Song of Extinction’ was at the Guthrie in Minneapolis. I’ve had plays staged in New York although not on Broadway; it was in Manhattan, though. I have been happily writing full time for the last nine years, which is fortunate because, as you know, the life of a playwright is such a roller coaster. Likewise, I do a little teaching here and there; and I also work on commissions. It’s a piecemeal sort of life and it’s uneven. But how lucky am I to be able to spend my life doing what I love and see my work come to life! It’s amazing to walk into a space and see the people who are figments of my imagination and here they are. I get to hug them. It’s very powerful as well as a big responsibility, in a good way.”
“Plays are a different art from poetry or novels.” Lewis elucidates. “Poets and novelists create the whole world themselves. Whereas a play is meant to be embodied and discovered through other people’s arts. And so to let them in helps you find the mood of the play. I love the part of my work that’s in my garret – alone, scribbling, listening to the voices of my characters in my head. But I love the other half of my life just as much – which is when I get to come to the theatre and work with the actors and directors.
“I’m so grateful to have my play premiering here at Boston Court. When I lived in Los Angeles, back when I was a baby playwright and finding my way, I would come to watch plays here at Boston Court. I thought they had the most stunningly beautiful stage and space. I loved the intimacy of the extraordinary design and their choice of plays that were smart and interesting. So to be able to have my play here with these lovely and smart people is a great gift. They take risks in doing new work and they love the business of helping a playwright find their play. Likewise, I have felt supported and challenged in all the best ways.”
As for the audience takeaway, Lewis says “There is a quote from Winston Churchill ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going.’ When we’re in the midst of a catastrophe, we tend to hunker down and not get out of it. I would like the audience to leave the theatre with a sense of coming out the other side of something, different than when they came in. Sometimes, even in the darkest time, you can be propelled into light and possibility that could nev
Her Instagram followers watch her work her magic online in real time. She writes words – names, dates, places – on a blank space and it becomes a piece of art. All in a span of a few minutes. Her calligraphy pieces grace wedding receptions, Hollywood film openings, Grammy events, and the New York fashion scene.
Katrina Centeno-Nguyen was 19 when she opened her eponymous company, Calligraphy Katrina, 12 years ago. She does a brisk business with a pen bought from an art store, and an immigrant’s determination, perseverance, and work ethic. Her journey is a model for everyone who’s arriving in this country to look for opportunities.
Chatting with me one sunny morning from her home in Pasadena, Centeno-Nguyen talks about coming to California as a 13-year-old, being raised by a single mom, and finding her career in the most unexpected way.
“My parents decided to emigrate from the Philippines – my dad arrived in Pasadena in 1997 and my mom followed in 2000. Unfortunately, their marriage didn’t work out and they divorced soon after. So it was up to my mom to find a way to get me and my sister here.
“Immigrating into the U.S. at that time wasn’t as difficult as it is today but it was definitely not an easy process. As comfortably well-off, highly educated, and widely-traveled as we were when we lived in Manila, we were still technically from a third-world country. We were coming here as dependents so that also meant my mom had to show how her children, who were still in the Philippines, were being financially supported. Propitiously, my grandmother (my grandfather had passed away) had income from their family business and rental properties so she made sure we were looked after.
“In time, my mom had obtained gainful employment as an analyst and had enough resources to cover the expenses for the petition process and the means to support us once we got here. I came here in 2001 and my sister arrived in 2005; my brother was born here.”
Continues Centeno-Nguyen, “I had finished 6th grade in Manila; I skipped middle school and went directly to 9th grade at Pasadena High School (PHS). That was quite an interesting cultural transition because I had gone to private schools in the Philippines and suddenly I was in a public school. Not only did it have a large population, students were talking back to their teachers!
“Though I have to say that socially, it wasn’t bad at all. PHS was a diverse school and a lot of students were culturally open because they also came from immigrant families. However, I had friends who weren’t necessarily immigrants. I was quite lucky because the classmates I hung out with were very much like me – we were all in the honors program; we mainly talked about school and homework. We studied and worked on projects in each other’s homes and, at the same time, had good, clean fun.
“Maybe my innocence also shielded me because I didn’t really know if bad things were happening. There might have been students who were doing drugs but I wasn’t aware of it. But the friends I had weren’t doing drugs either so there was no peer pressure. The core of our friendship was academics; it was why we became friends in the first place. We were nerds – we played chess and enjoyed physics class. We were also a good mix – some were in sports or arts; and we were volunteering in the same places. It was all about getting ready for college applications.”
Asked which college she went to, Centeno-Nguyen responds, “I actually didn’t attend college. We were still in the process of getting our residents’ visa; we didn’t become green card holders until 2007. Going to college as a non-immigrant was going to be quite expensive. Besides, I had to try to figure out a way to help my mom. While she had a great post, she had to work two jobs to enable her to support three children – in Pasadena, where it’s not cheap. So I took a full-time job as a nanny while I attended Le Cordon Bleu. It was also at this time that I started ‘Calligraphy Katrina.’”
Being a calligrapher was the furthest thing from Centeno-Nguyen’s mind in terms of a career. She relates that she became one by happenstance, “I’ve always had good penmanship and one day, one of my nanny friends saw me writing my grocery list. She was getting married soon and asked if I could do her envelopes. She informed me that I could make money addressing wedding invitations. So I looked into how pricing worked, invested $10 on a few pens from an art store, and bought a couple of envelope packets from Target. That was how ‘Calligraphy Katrina’ started. I began with two fonts and created new ones as I went. Sometimes I’d make an accidental swish and I’d say ‘Oh, that looks pretty cool. Let’s try that again.’
Centeno-Nguyen was brought up with a discipline and work ethic that made the transition to life in the United States easier. And it proved helpful when she endured a punishing schedule as she was establishing her business.
She recalls, “After I’d been doing wedding invitations for a while, a stationery store called Paper Source in Beverly Hills started taking notice and they asked me to bring my work there. I was still working as a nanny then. I was also in the night class at culinary school and I was doing kitchen work because that was a requirement. My day commenced at 6:30 when I woke up and I was at work by 8:00. Fortunately, the family I worked for lived in Pasadena so it wasn’t a bad commute. I left their house at 5:30 and I was at school at 6:00, where I stayed until 11:00 pm.
“I squeezed the calligraphy project whenever I had the chance. Sometimes I worked on it when the child I was caring for was asleep; I did readings when he was playing. At times I did the calligraphy after school, before going to bed. That was my hustle in those early days. I also did a few hours in the kitchen during weekends because that was important. I had to balance it somehow.
“It was then I decided to give up culinary school. My mom questioned my decision when I had already paid a lot of money for it. But in the restaurant business, it’s either you own an establishment or you’re really brilliant. I was good, but not that good. To get financial backing, you have to know how to run a restaurant already, which I didn’t have any background on. At that time, too, a lot of restaurants were going under. It just so happened that my work was standing on its own and, because Calligraphy Katrina was my baby, I had a deep personal investment in it.”
Centeno-Nguyen recalls, “Facebook wasn’t as widely used as it is now; there was no Instagram. Social media wasn’t a thing yet. There were wedding blogs but the Internet wasn’t that huge so there weren’t as many venues for my work to be seen by a great many people. So I posted photos on Craigslist every week – that was my marketing. Even back then, people were paying $4 to $5 an envelope. I did it in a platform like Craigslist because I was learning how to run it. It didn’t feel ethical for me to charge someone $3 when I didn’t know what I was doing. But I also disclosed to my clients that I was new at this so they knew coming in that it was why I was charging only so much. It was a learning process for me and my clients were hiring me because they just wanted something handwritten. As my artistry and knowledge evolved, I started increasing my prices. But even now, as my experience has broadened, my prices aren’t as high in comparison to what other calligraphers charge.”
“Soon, I quit my job in the kitchen and as a nanny. The calligraphy work was already gaining traction and I was secure enough to focus entirely on it. Still, I was petrified. Obviously, I didn’t really know how it would turn out. My mom and I would go to Beverly Hills every single weekend. She worked a lot so it became our special time together – we’d hang out there and meet the brides that we got from Craigslist at Starbucks.
“At the time, there were only a few people who could be called calligraphers and they were very old school – very traditional. They were master penmen who belonged to a group and they were leery about me. I was 19 and I didn’t get a formal education on the art so I was the outsider. That’s also part of my insecurity as an artist. I once had the privilege of working alongside a full-pledged calligrapher who saw me as a non-calligrapher because my slants weren’t the right size for Spencerian. But I wasn’t doing Spencerian, it was simply my own handwriting. This is why I work at such great speed.”
Centeno-Nguyen works on a mirror project | Courtesy photo / Calligraphy Katrina
“Not to diminish what they do, because it’s brilliant,” Centeno-Nguyen quickly says. “I wish I had that kind of knowledge but that sensibility is what differentiates my company from others. I do volume and I need to make that work. A lot of calligraphers say what I do isn’t calligraphy because I’m diminishing art. Every day, as an artist, I also have to account for my own individuality. Since I’m not conforming to the standard, am I a real artist? Do I feel like an actual calligrapher?
“Most calligraphers do this for the artistry of it. That’s not to say that I don’t, because I most certainly do. But it’s also my primary means of livelihood and I have to meet deadlines. My evolution as an artist is tied into the success of my company. I want to establish a stable business and a successful commercial venture. I have to look at it as ‘How can I make enough to support my family?’ And because I didn’t have the resources to do so, ‘Will I be able to ensure that my child goes to a four-year university?’ And ‘How is this going to increase my income so I can enjoy my family?’ When I become financially comfortable then I can think about my artistry.”
If success were to be measured by one’s popularity on social media then Centeno-Nguyen has definitely attained it. People see her working on huge projects involving pop stars and runway models online. She’s on Reddit and has a loyal following on Instagram, which she finds incredible.
Calligraphy Katrina does a brisk business on envelope addressing for corporate clients | Courtesy Photo / Calligraphy Katrina
Centeno-Nguyen explains that how she got into the Hollywood industry was opportune. “In 2008, a new PR company needed 30 envelopes addressed, not right now but yesterday, and calligraphers in the city gave them a timeline of a week for the project. They called me and I said if they delivered the envelopes that morning, I would have them done by the end of the day. My company officially opened in August 2007 and we did one or two envelope projects a week. By January – February, we were already doing corporate work.
“Because of my pricing, which was like air for a PR company with a large budget, they asked me to do more things like place cards. This was also a young PR company gaining their traction, and it was beneficial to them that I was actually meeting their deadline. That PR company then talked about me to other PR companies. The buzz started from my speed – I could work on the fly. It was my ace and, for a long time, it was what made me stand out. And more corporate work came rolling in.”
Mirror projects make up 50 percent of Calligraphy Katrina’s business | Courtesy photo / Calligraphy Katrina
Just like doing calligraphy work happened unexpectedly, working on mirrors wasn’t by design either. Centeno-Nguyen recounts, “We had a client who owned a mirror company and they were thinking of having a welcome sign for an event at the California Club. We discussed different things we could do on a mirror and we came up with a seating chart. They asked if I knew how to do one on a mirror and I said no but I’d figure it out. I didn’t know how I was going to grid it but being a nerd, I used math to measure it. I did it on site in four hours while they were setting up. I used a chalk and it looked really cool.
“This was ten years ago when I hadn’t seen anyone doing calligraphy on mirrors. No one cared for it because they said it was too hard to read. When I created calligraphy work on giant mirrors, though, everyone took note because it was different. After I did the videos, everybody wanted the mirror.”
“The mirrors are popular with weddings so 50 percent of our business comes from that and 50 percent is from corporate,” divulges Centeno-Nguyen. “We recently bought out a vintage store that carried antique mirrors from France when the owner decided to close shop last year because space rental was too expensive. We needed to have a place to store them so we opened a downtown studio. The way I see it, I’ve spent so much money buying them, I might as well have people come in to look at them. I got lucky because my space is a corner office so I get nice views on two realms. But it’s also very distracting because there’s constant activity outside and I want to see what’s happening. So I still work from home and the majority of my pens are here; that’s also because sometimes I write at 3:00 in the morning.”
Centeno-Nguyen at a recent corporate event | Courtesy photo / Calligraphy Katrina
Calligraphy Katrina operates smoothly with a lean staff, according to Centeno-Nguyen. “I have a house manager who’s also my daughter’s nanny, an assistant, and a driver who does all our runs in the city. This is my assistant’s first week – my previous production manager who worked with me for two-and-a-half years moved on to her dream job as a social worker. She was the one who helped me build this company to where it is now. She was with me during a difficult time. I had a tough pregnancy and I was on bed rest for nine weeks. My daughter was born at 29 weeks; she was 2 ½ lbs. and was at the Huntington Hospital for two months.
“We were also in the middle of a move to this house. I worked while I was bed-ridden and, because it relaxed me, I didn’t realize I was in labor. My daughter was born by Caesarean section at 12:03 in the morning after 26 hours of labor. New York is open at 6:00 am our time and I was on the phone taking notes because we were doing a show. It was much later they found out I was in the hospital. But I wasn’t going to miss that call. Giving birth isn’t an excuse; as long as I am awake I can write.”
Centeno-Nguyen’s reputation as a reliable artist who can get the work done fast is the reason she has long-standing clients. She’s been working with LACMA for almost ten years now and Chanel for nine years. On the morning we met, a delivery from LACMA arrived; there were several boxes of Chanel envelopes in the dining room for her to work on.
Twelve years after Centeno-Nguyen bravely took the leap to establish Calligraphy Katrina, she is a mainstay not only in the luxury bridal market, she’s also sought after by corporate clients including museums, fashion houses, The Grammys, and movie companies, among others.
When queried about which projects she enjoyed most, Centeno-Nguyen replies, “The Chanel fashion show was a fantastic gig. We’ve done a few fashion shows like YSL and Moschino and they were really fun, but the Chanel was doubly so because we were in New York for a whole week preparing for it. We even saw the rehearsal; it was like seeing a production come to life. But the most memorable one will always be my first mirror.”
It’s a sentiment shared by most immigrants – no matter how successful they become and how far they’ve come, they look back with gratitude at where they started.
A San Gabriel Valley Inquirer 