This North Coast Weekend

In times like these that try the soul, public crises lead to private cries of conscience, and to the inquiries numbered among the obsessions of art. Theatre, arguably the most public and the most intimate of arts, inevitably responds. There are several examples this coming week on North Coast stages, each addressing a different (though not necessarily unrelated) public issue in a different way.

My Name is Rachel Corrie is a one-person play, adapted from the diaries, emails and stories of this young activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer when she stood in front of it to prevent the destruction of a Palestinian home. It was created by Katharine Viner, a journalist for the British newspaper The Guardian, and British stage and screen actor, Alan Rickman. It's been very controversial--when I was in Ashland last month, one of the weekly newspapers had an account of a production there (not at the OSF) that had been cancelled because some prominent Jews in the community protested it as anti-Semitic. The production was rescheduled, but with "the other side" of the story somehow added.

But it's getting a production here, Thursday through Saturday (Oct.18-20) in the Studio Theatre on the HSU campus, and it then moves to the Arcata Playhouse on October 25-27. Kelly Nixon plays Rachel Corrie; Tisha Sloan, now at Dell'Arte, directs. Betti Trauth writes about it at the T-S., Susie Stein in the Arcata Eye, there's an unsigned story in the ER and Heidi Walters previews it in the calendar section of the NCJ. If you're wondering why I didn't write about it in my NCJ column this week, the answer is that I didn't know about it. People may assume that when they send information about stage productions to the Journal that it is then forwarded on to me. I wish.

Newly minted Nobel Laureate Al Gore calls it a “planetary emergency.” Scientists and government leaders say it is a mortal threat to human civilization and life as we know it. But the climate crisis is just beginning as a subject for theatre. It’s a difficult one, because it is only now becoming real to us — it’s our first anticipated catastrophe, without cultural memory or direct personal experience to guide us. The subject is being approached obliquely so far and, as at the Arcata Playhouse this Sunday, through the lens of laughter.

The Tip of the Iceberg: a globally warmed comedy is written and directed by Ed Holmes of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and performed by Theater R.A.B., a mask and movement ensemble based in Germany. (The initials stand for Random Acts of Beauty.) One of its founders and performers is HSU grad Len Shirts. The company’s mission is to speak “to the themes of the times through movement, music and the spoken word.” The story involves two arguing environmentalists in 2040, trapped on the last glacier on Earth as it floats out to sea, and their experiences and visions.

The one-night stop for this show’s tour is hosted by our own Four on the Floor Theater (which will hold its latest outdoor spectacle, Elemental, in Blue Lake the night before). “The global warming content of the show is very appealing to us, “ said Jacqueline Dandeneau, Four’s co-director. “Part of our goal with the Playhouse is to present smaller companies that don’t show up on the large arts presenters’ radar and to be part of a regional touring network for smaller touring artists. Also, the opportunity to have an interchange between smaller actor-creator driven companies is really great - to chat with them about how they run their company, touring, the European theater scene, the hows, what and whofors..”

Dandenau notes that The Tip of the Iceberg is a new show. "It premiered in the Bay area, at Rhythmix cultural Works in Alameda, the Mime Troupe Studio in SF and Valhalla Boathouse Theater in Tahoe." R.A.B.participants are also doing a workshop on Monday, and writer/director Ed Holmes is doing one on Tuesday night. More information: 822-1575.

In presenting Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change with the Peace Prize last week, the Nobel committee recognized that climate crisis could easily lead to war over resources, if it hasn’t already. This week’s production by students of the North Coast Preparatory Academy approaches the recurrent issue of war and questions of leadership, purpose and honor through classic dramatic texts: Shakespeare’s Henry plays. This is the second appearance from the cycle on local stages this year: North Coast Rep staged Henry IV Part 1 last spring, and now North Coast Prep will present a work based on the two Henry IV plays and the famous Henry V. It’s an adaptation by director Jean Bazemore called Mortal Men, Mortal Men.

At the heart of the Henry plays is the question of leadership, its legitimacy and its exercise. But this version also appears to sharpen the contrasting views of war held by the young Henry V, who inspires his men to heroics, and his erstwhile companion, Falstaff, who sees little honor in war, and views the sacrifice of common men as “food for [gun] powder” to promote the ends and vanities of kings.

This show is acted and produced by members of the freshmen and sophomore classes. Gerald Beck, the self-described “hardcore minimalist,” again designs the abstract sets, which may tend to focus attention on the words and their applications to today. It begins on Thursday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 at Gist Hall on the HSU campus, and continues through the weekend, with an additional matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. More information: 845-4772.