Welcome to the second edition of
ArtsWatch
The fall season in the arts has roared to life the past two weeks in a parade of Opening Nights and galas, thrilling and exhausting. ArtsWatch didn't make it to all of them, here in our pilot year, but those we saw indicated that 2011-2012 continues the trend of the past few years. Portland-area artists and arts groups are producing more concerts, shows and exhibitions of all sorts than ever, and the level of quality has never been higher, an admittedly subjective judgment but one that is shared broadly at this point.
ArtsWatch focused on the Big Openings the past few of weeks, especially in dance and theater, but also classical music (especially its adventurous sibling, alt.classical music). That was by design. Although the most important aspect of our art scene here might be how diffuse and prevalent it is outside the downtown core, the performance of the big institutions is an important barometer of our overall level of ambition.
And on that score, we were impressed — by Oregon Ballet Theatre's "Petrouchka/Carmen" double bill, for example, by Artists Rep and its William Hurt-fired version of Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land," by the argument the Art Gym and White Box exhibitions make for the importance of emerging artist David Eckard, by the Vivaldi choral pieces performed by Portland Baroque Orchestra. Among many others.
Here are some links to some of our responses to the busy past couple of weeks:
ART's "No Man's Land": William Hurt, Harold Pinter and the problem of freedom
OBT's "Petrouchka/Carmen": The power of knowing who you are
Portland Baroque Orchestra: Exemplary Vivaldi
Portland Playhouse's "Gem of the Ocean": August Wilson's argument made on character
Portland Center Stage's "Oklahoma!": A round-up of the critical responses to PCS's hit
The ArtsWatch Ticket
Deal of the Week
A note from this week's sponsor:
"Go. You won't be disappointed!" PCS audience member
Fleeing the liberal bubble of San Francisco and his hipster friends, Hoyle spent 100 days traveling through small-town America in search of some tough country wisdom and a way to bridge America's urban/rural divide. Instead, Hoyle found himself immersed in the populist anger of the people whom Sarah Palin famously described as The Real Americans, and awed at the disconnect between Obama Nation and Palin Country.
The Real Americans,
Through November 6 in the Ellyn Bye Studio at Portland Center Stage
Use the code word "Hoyle" and receive $10 off full price adult tickets!
BUY TICKETS
ArtsWatch
Special Event
Amid all of the shows, we took a moment off to hold our first Oregon ArtsWatch special event. Which was a show itself! We asked directors Rose Riordan, Brian Weaver and Jerry Mouawad (of Portland Center Stage, Portland Playhouse and Imago Theatre, respectively) to demonstrate their directing approach by spending 45 minutes with the same two actors (the adventurous Laura Faye Smith and Sean McGrath) rehearsing the same love scene from Chuck Mee's "Fire Island." It was amazing: Both the directors and the actors taught us so much about the art of making theater.
Here's the link to our account of the proceedings, and a special thanks to board member Gretchen Corbett for her role in organizing the event and to Portland Center Stage for hosting the event in the Ellyn Bye Studio.
Stay tuned: We're planning our next special event. Hope to see you there!
ArtsWatch Audio
We have dipped our toes into the wonderful world of podcasting. Or maybe we've stubbed our toes on the wonderful world of podcasting. Let's put it this way: We know that we have a lot to learn. We do have two interviews in the can — or wherever those pesky audio files go (we DO know that cans aren't involved).
Chris Coleman on "Oklahoma!": Our first attempt was an interview with Coleman, artistic director of Portland Center Stage and director of "Oklahoma!"
Bob Hicks on "No Man's Land": The Pinter is pretty perplexing, so we turned to theater critic emeritus Bob Hicks for some explanation.
Please tune in!
And finally...
Oregon ArtsWatch is just getting started, and we appreciate your interest. We're going to be sending you a survey soon to help us start to calibrate what we're doing a little bit. Don't worry: It's just a bunch of questions about what you're most interested in andwhat you'd like to see us do in the future.
