Have you ever heard this quote, attributed to 20th Century American actress Tallulah Bankhead: “If you really want to help the American theater, don’t be an actress, dahling. Be an audience.”?
I have. But for myself, personally, I choose to ignore it.
This doesn’t surprise me, Lily. But every so often I enjoy a good, long break from performing and presenting, and luxuriate in the artistic endeavors of others.
Huh?
Next month we get to be an audience for six different shows, 9! For the past several Junes I’ve been booked for Mountain View Cemetery’s historic tour and the Dance Center of Walla Walla’s spring recital. This year, I am honored to be in the audience for their production The Final Bow:
Audience opportunity June 1: Dance Center of Walla Walla “The Final Bow”. . .
That’s a weird name for a dance recital.
True, but it captures a very important event: the retirement of Dance Center founder Idalee Hutson-Fish. She started the studio in 1986! The performance is Saturday, June 1, here in Walla Walla at Cordiner Hall. Tickets are available here:
https://www.thedancecenterofwallawalla.com/
Next Friday, June 7, a friend and I have tickets for Caravan of Glam at GESA Powerhouse Theater!
Audience opportunity two: Caravan of Glam at GESA Powerhouse Theater!
That sounds exotic.
The perfect descriptor, Lily! The show is a cabaret of drag, burlesque, acrobatics and comedy, featuring and celebrating LGBTQ+ performers. I anticipate lots of glitter, laughter and feats of daring-do (or, for fans of the Oxford English Dictionary, derring-do).
Does “drag” have something to do with cars?
Not in this case, 9 (although there is a car-themed event, Crash Fest, at Walla Walla County Fairgrounds this Saturday). In the Caravan of Glam context it means people dressing as, and presenting themselves as, people of the opposite sex.
Interesting. I wonder if there will be any scenes from Shakespeare?
I’m guessing not, Lily, but one never knows. Shakespeare’s plays were a drag double-whammy when originally produced, since women weren’t allowed to appear on stage. Men played women’s roles, and sometimes men played women who were disguised as men! From the YouTube video at the GESA Powerhouse website it looks like the performance has more to do with action than with words:
https://phtww.org/show/caravan-of-glam-2/
On Sunday, June 9, we switch from dance and theater to music. Chamber music, that is. We have tickets for four of the sixteen Walla Walla Summer Chamber Music Festival events, which happen in the compressed time of four weeks!
Audience opportunities three through six: Walla Walla Summer Chamber Music Festival!
Incredibly hearty souls who wish to attend all sixteen performances can save ten percent by purchasing a Gold Pass. The festival runs June 6th through 29th. Information about events, artists and the festival itself (established in 2007) is available here:
Wow, that’s a lot of audiencing for one month!
Nice coining of a new verb, 9! Being in an audience, aside from the joy of witnessing the work of excellent artists, has an added benefit- -it recharges my own creative battery. Good thing, as June is also the month I’m making final edits on book five of my contemporary fantasy/mythology “G” series, with the goal of submitting it to WolfSinger Publications by the end of the month.
And you’ll be spending more time in the garden.
And working on your Sister Catherine Living History presentation.
It’s a good thing there are over sixteen hours of daylight in Walla Walla, every day in June!
Whether you’re in an actual audience or not, I hope the new month is entertaining for you, too, in the best possible way!
Speaking of “Audience,” that is the title of a play by Michael Frayn. Pictured with Jerry Watson in the 1994 Key City Players production, Port Townsend, WA. Jerry passed away a year ago. He is being honored this weekend with a memorial at (the rebranded) Key City Public Theater.
