Arts & Society

Gary Tischler • March 11, 2015

In the world of opera, there’s an ongoing debate about “new” and “contemporary” works—what are they, who’s doing them, what should they look like, be and sound like. The debate goes on all over the world and across the country, among composers, opera companies and directors.

You can find out a little bit about what direction contemporary opera is going or coming from if you take in “The Whole Truth,” a comic chamber opera by much buzzed-about composer Robert Paterson, commissioned by Urban Arias. It is getting its premiere at the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s Intersection Festival — 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 21; 9:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 27; 7 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28.

Paterson is a young composer,  bringing with him much critical acclaim for his operas, compositions and songs, often pushing the envelope and at the same time defining  the contours of modern, or contemporary opera.

“The Whole Truth” is described as a comic chamber opera in seven scenes, which doesn’t quite tell, well, the whole truth.  It features a libretto by Mark Campbell and is based on a short story by noted novelist Stephen McCauley.  It was commissioned by Urban Arias and its executive director Robert Wood. Urban Arias, which operates out of Northern Virginia,  has staged works at Artisphere and is considered a cutting-edge opera company, groundbreaking and presenting “exciting, compelling operas by living creative teams.”

“The Whole Truth” is short, under a half an hour,  but doesn’t lack for ambition, nor does its composer.  “I know there’s this debate going on, about the direction of opera and music,” Paterson said.  “I think that opera, especially contemporary opera, should reflect the times we live in.  The canon is all very well and good, and we should have it, but there needs to be new works for new audiences. 

“The trouble is that a lot of the new operas, long or short, tend to be in a very heavy serious vain, or people think the music, in order to be new, needs to be somehow atonal and difficult, or dissonant,” Paterson said.  “I think we need works that are about something and someone, people that today’s audiences will recognize.”

“And, so, when you say comic opera, well, that just isn’t done,” he said.  “It’s rare in opera to begin with except for some of the classics by Mozart. I think you can make statements with comic opera, with a lighter touch.”

“The Whole Truth”  has only  three singers, and is about  a young married woman named Megan, a role shared by a soprano and a mezzo-soprano, who has an affair with a fellow dentist and a dalliance with a young carpenter, all of which leads her to confront  the lies she’s told to others and to herself.  The characters are simple: the man, the woman, with the man also playing two psychiatrists, the lover, the husband and the carpenter.

The libretto is by Mark Campbell, who has written two comic operas with composers Bill Bolcom and John Musto.

“It almost works like a sitcom,” Paterson said. “It has those kinds of people and situation, but you can address everything that’s going on different kinds of music—sometimes jazzy, fragmented, bouncy, sexy.”

“It’s not necessarily laugh out loud funny, but it is humorous,” he said. “People do want to laugh. And in this work, the libretto is especially important. It has to be understood and mean something, not just move the narrative, but reveal what the music is suggesting.  The libretto hasn’t always been given its due in opera. It’s always about the music and the singers. And English is sometimes difficult to shape into singing operatic music.

Look up Paterson on YouTube, and you find his works in profusion, including  his chamber opera “The Companion,” which gives you a good sense of his musical and opera ideas.

His works have been praised for being “vibrantly scored and well-crafted” for their elegance, wit, structural integrity and wonderful sense of color. The Classical Recording Foundation named him “The Composer of the Year” at Carnegie Hall.

The Atlas Performing Arts Center’s Intersection Festival runs through March 7 and features more than 100 performances and events in all sorts of genres, including  sound, music, comedy, movement land dance, story telling, family material and café concerts. Among the performers are the Vision Contemporary Dance Ensemble,  Saudade puppets, Split This Rock, the Tehreema Mitha lDance Company, the Taffety Punk Theatre Company, Rajab, Rachel Ann Cross, Speakeasy D.C., Jane Franklin Dance and Happenstance Theatre, among others. Go the Atlas Performing Arts Center web site for more information.
[gallery ids="101991,135360" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

Her annual Oscars excursion to the warm West Coast had Elizabeth Webster, Director of Business Outreach for At-large Councilman Vincent Orange, back in one of her favorite places with old friends in Los Angeles and the parties that accompany the Academy Awards weekend. Part of Webster’s reason to be in L.A. was to promote more production work in D.C., persuading film crews to shoot in the nation’s capital. Webster paid for the trip herself; no taxpayer money involved. She did get a chance to wear dresses by designer Sue Wong and check out the scene around the Feb. 22 awards ceremony in the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. [gallery ids="102001,135250,135236,135242,135230,135252,135245" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

“Iberian Suite” at the Kennedy Center, March 3 – 24

The profound and far-reaching impact of Iberian culture – that is, the culture of Spain and Portugal – will be getting a thorough, almost month-long examination and celebration at the Kennedy Center in “Iberian Suite: Global Arts Remix,” continuing the center’s practice of focusing on specific world cultures.

“There has been a tremendous amount of cross-pollinating during the course of history, sparked by Portuguese and Spanish exploration and colonization in the 15th century which had rippled effects in North and South America, in Africa and Asia and all over the world,” said Alicia Adams, festival curator and the Kennedy Center’s vice president of international programming and dance.

One of the major components is a huge exhibition (150 items) called “Picasso, Ceramics and the Mediterranean,” organized with the support of Picasso Administration, chaired by Claude Picasso. There will be numerous performances, including Post-Classical Ensemble’s multimedia program “Iberian Mystics: A Confluence of Faiths” and concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra with Portuguese fado singers Carminho and Camané, Spanish singer Concha Buika with Cuban pianist Iván “Melon” Lewis and his Continuum Quartet, the Arakaendar Choir and Orchestra from Bolivia and a host of others.

“The Originalist” at Arena Stage, March 6 – April 26

It’s hard to believe, but it looks like controversial conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is about to enter the pantheon of theatrical and pop culture. At Arena Stage, he’s the focus of “The Originalist,” a new play by John Strand, who won the Charles MacArthur Award for best new play several years ago for “Lovers and Executioners.” In “The Originalist,” in Arena’s Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, a smart, liberal Harvard Law grad is in a highly sought-after Supreme Court clerkship with Scalia. The result is a complicated, sometimes humorous portrait of an edgy court and human relationship. You’re likely to be in good hands what with Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith at the helm and Ed Gero – who’s shined in roles from Ebenezer Scrooge to Mark Rothko – starring as Scalia.

“Uncle Vanya” at Round House Theatre, April 8 – May 3

Washington theater appears to have been dominated by Chekhov, American style, lately, with director-playwright Aaron Posner bringing his versions of “The Seagull” and “Uncle Vanya” to the stage with “Stupid F—–g Bird” at Woolly Mammoth and “Life Sucks” at Theater J, respectively. Plus, there’s the Christopher Durang play “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a mashup of several Chekhov characters, which will be directed by Posner at Arena Stage April 3 – May 3.

But if have a taste and a desire for the real thing, you probably can’t do better than the Round House Theatre production of “Uncle Vanya,” although here too you’re getting an adaptation by Annie Baker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who brings a contemporary feel to the language. But what a cast, directed by John Vreeke: Gabriel Fernandez-Coffey, the astonishing Kimberly Gilbert, Mitchell Hébert, Mark Jaster, Nancy Robinette, Ryan Rilette, Eric Shimelonis, Jerry Whiddon and the incomparable Joy Zinoman, founder and former artistic director of Studio Theatre.

“Laugh” at Studio Theatre, begins March 11

Back in the 1980s, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley was known for funny, heartbreaking plays about families in the modern South such as “Crimes of the Heart” and “The Miss Firecracker Contest.” Set in the Hollywood silent-film era, “Laugh” may be a different matter altogether, a play – billed as a slapstick comedy – full of surprises, adventures and maybe a little romance. It has live music by composer Wayne Barker and is directed by David Schweizer. The cast includes Helen Cespedes as the orphaned heroine Mabel and Creed Garnick as Roscoe.

In Series’ “Don Giovanni” at GALA Hispanic Theatre, March 14-23

One of Washington’s hidden treasures, the In Series – with a history of venturing into not-always-compatibles genres, going in a season from cabaret resurrections to opera evenings – is promising to bring something new to something old. The company’s staging of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” an opera dealing with crime, murder, seduction, love and death, comes complete with a new adaptation in English. The production has a 1920s religious-revival setting, a la “Elmer Gantry,” which, come to think about it, was all about hurly-burly and seduction. Tom Mallan directs, Stanley Thurston conducts a chamber ensemble and Andrew Thomas Pardini plays the Don.

Washington Ballet’s “Swan Lake” with Misty Copeland, April 8-12

That the Washington Ballet is staging Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” shouldn’t come as a surprise – although it’s actually the first time the company has mounted the ballet – but there are additional reasons to see this classic tale of a princess, an evil sorceress and swans both white and black. For one thing, Misty Copeland, American Ballet Theatre’s star ballerina, will be dancing the starring roles of Odette-Odile, paired with Brooklyn Mack. One of America’s most celebrated ballerinas, Copeland is only the second African American ballerina to be promoted to soloist at ABT. The production also marks the launch of a creative collaboration between the Washington Ballet and the S&R Foundation’s Evermay Chamber Orchestra, which will perform the famous score.

Georgetowner •

Fashion photographer Nigel Barker, best known for his time as a judge on America’s Next Top Model, visited DCanter on Saturday Feb. 28 for a book signing and wine tasting.

Nigel Barker is a fashion photographer whose images have been printed in many major magazines. The event was in honor of his newly released, Models of Influence. The book profiles 50 of the world’s most inspiring models from the 1940’s to today through 200 full-color photographs by esteemed photographers.

Barker celebrates icons such as 50’s pin-up Dorian Leigh, 60’s spirit Twiggy, the revolutionary Iman, supermodel Naomi Campbell and today’s leading ladies Cara Delevingne and Joan Smalls, among others.

After twenty years in the business, he says that working with many extraordinary models inspired him to write this book.

”Every one of this women helped change everyone’s opinion on what was possible of beauty,” Barker said,

He mentions how Alek Wek had a different appearance compared to what the fashion industry was used to. Now people who look like her can be showcased in a way that wasn’t possible before.

”The book is full of that, models who were trailblazers and pioneers. They were the first,” he continues.

Barker explains that during 1969 (when women were still heavily stereotyped by 1950s perceptions), a model like Twiggy changed the sophisticated look of the woman. People realized that the woman was an individual, which at the time was revolutionary.

He said he chose the 50 models highlighted in his book based on the way the women helped changed people’s opinions about definitions of beauty.

The three wines at the event came from Milan, Paris and New York—places considered by many to be the fashion capitals of the world.

Owners of DCanter Michael and Michelle Warner launched the boutique in 2013 with a goal of providing a wine and beer experience unlike any other.

”Opening this boutique is something we’ve always wanted,” said Michael Warner. ”Now we are offering many wines, for some of them we are the only outlet retailers.”

Although DCanter has only been open a year and a half year, the wine boutique has many returning customers in the neighborhood.

The wines featured at the event came from wineries that have some sort of commitment to art and fashion, like Brooklyn Oenology, which has different local artist create a unique piece of art for each bottle’s label.

The Capitol Hill boutique offers products and services that encourage customers to experience and discover unique artisanal wines and craft beers in a chic, inviting environment.

”We want to help our customers remember the moments,” he said. ”In most cases you don’t remember a specific wine — you remember the experience.

DCanter is located at 545 8th St. SE Washington, DC 20003. Phone: 202.817.3803. Website: www.DCanterWines.com.
[gallery ids="102002,135222,135209,135213,135217,135227,135229" nav="thumbs"]

Richard Selden •

IN – Textile Museum

After nearly 90 years in Kalorama, the Textile Museum will open March 21 in a new Foggy Bottom facility as the George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum. The largest exhibition in the museum’s history, “Unraveling Identity: Our Textiles, Our Stories,” will display more than 1,000 pieces through Aug. 24. On the grand opening weekend, there will be free activities at the new museum, 701 21st St. NW, as well as a textile symposium on Saturday at the School of Media and Public Affairs, 805 21st St. NW.

The design, by Hartman-Cox Architects, links a new 35,000-square-foot structure with the former university police headquarters, Woodhull House, which will become the home of a collection of Washingtoniana – rare maps, drawings, documents and correspondence – donated to the university by Albert H. Small in 2011. The director of the two museums, also an associate professor of Museum Studies, is John Wetenhall, a historian of modern art who got his Ph.D. at Stanford and was executive director of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla., among others.

The origins of the Textile Museum were similar to those of the nearby Phillips Collection. It opened in 1925 in the S Street mansion of George Hewitt Myers (a collector of what were then known as Oriental rugs) and grew to be one of the major collections of non-Western textiles in the United States. The struggling museum was taken over by George Washington University a few years after a plan to open an annex in Penn Quarter was canceled in 2008. The university is also building a conservation and resource center on its Loudoun County, Va., campus.

OUT – Franklin School

On Feb. 9, Mayor Muriel Bowser abruptly announced the de-selection of the Institute for Contemporary Expression as the developer, with Anthony Lanier’s East Banc, of the landmark Franklin School at 13th and K Streets NW. A new Request for Qualifications, due March 23, has been issued, with a Request for Proposals to follow in the fall.

ICE’s plan to create a space for the presentation of cutting-edge art, especially large installation and multimedia works – along with education programs, a bookstore and a restaurant by José Andrés – was chosen by then Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration in February 2014. The building, designed in 1865 by Adolph Cluss, the architect of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, became vacant when it ceased to be a homeless shelter in 2008. Several plans since then for its reuse went nowhere.

Collector Dani Levinas, executive director of ICE, has said that he was not consulted and his plan is solid. (Cost estimates vary from Levinas’s $13.2 million to more than $20 million.) It is not known if ICE will respond to the RFQ. In the meantime, there have been calls for revisiting the decision, with a letter circulating asking the mayor to “Please take this moment of public appeal to bring this matter back before the City Council.”

Robert Devaney • March 9, 2015

“I’ve been living for this since January,” said Lorraine Burns of Arlington, who had requested tickets for “Antiques Roadshow,” which set up camp for the first time ever in D.C. at the Walter Washington Convention Center Aug. 21. The show, approaching its 15th year on PBS, has attained cult-like status with TV viewers and owners of family heirlooms which they believe might be worth big bucks. Its D.C. inauguration fetched 23,000 requests for 5,000 tickets, a record for this year. The show, which took to the road in San Diego, ended its taping here. (Its new season begins January.)

“Antiques Roadshow” prompted Patricia Erickson of Charlotte, N.C., to visit the nation’s capital for the first time ever, too, making a family vacation of it. Citing the show’s broadcast time, Erickson said, “Don’t call me between 8 and 9 on Monday nights.”

Then, Burns and Erickson met appraiser J. Michael Flanigan, and you’d think they had seen Bono or Sting or President Obama. The Keno brothers were nearby, walking out of the taping circle to visit those waiting in the long lines. Again, rock stars. These guys appraise old wooden furniture — with passion, admittedly.

We finally got a chance to show two old family pieces — one in the metalworks line and the other in the paintings line. (Generalist appraisers at the end of the long, initial line hand out tickets which categorize the piece, whether it be furniture, a toy or a sword, and send their patient cult followers to another line.) The longest line was for Asian arts. We were told about the guy with a bearskin rug, supposedly belonging to Bette Davis’s daughter. Which line is that one?

Kerry Shrives of Boston’s Skinner, Inc., looked over a bronze statuette, called “the freed slave” by our family, and smiled, “About $300, maybe a little more.” Then, David Weiss of Philadelphia’s Freeman’s Auctioneers pondered an oil painting of the English Lake District, struggling to see the signature on the lower right just under the frame. An inner frame blocked his complete view. Nevertheless, Weiss declared,”It’s a wonderful 19th-century painting, perhaps worth $1,500.” (O.K., that’s cool. Now, do you realize the appeal of this TV show?)

We also saw Sally Davidson of Clyde’s Restaurants being interviewed on camera about her Japanese filigree bowl. Ask her, or wait until next year to learn its value.

Upon our exit, we saw an abandoned cracked figurine on the sidewalk. A couple wheeled past with a Victorian-style baby buggy. “50 bucks? You’re kidding me, right?” Many are called, but few are chosen. [gallery ids="99296,99297,99298,99299" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler • March 5, 2015

To say the least, “Dialogues of the Carmelites”, now receiving a haunting, sometimes harrowing Washington National Opera production at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, is not what you’d expect from an opera, even in today’s music climate, where so-called contemporary operas are starting to appear regularly on season schedules.

“Carmelites” is a 1957 opera written by Francis Poulenc, a French composer who was known for his song cycles and music that straddled the lines between the sensual and spiritual. Yet, he composed an opera that’s managed to become a contemporary classic, a historical opera that today reminds us of contemporary horrors.

In the hands of a fine cast, a patient and imaginative director, driven and decorated by impeccable stagecraft, the WNO production manages to overcome what seem to be some minefields in the music and the structure of the opera itself.

“Carmelites,” which elevates musically a historic atrocity that was a by-product of the French Revolution run rampant, was sung in English, per Poulet’s long-standing request that the opera would be sung in the native language of the country where it is performed.

Musically, as an opera, the structure avoids the familiar—the highlights are strong dramatic duets between several principal characters, rising, graceful harmonies most effective with the use of a cappella singing from nuns gathering together. There are no arias, no overt expressions or opportunities for grandiose displays of technical skills, but there is music, sometimes emphatic and overly dramatic, that signals emotional surges and passages. The idea in fact was born as a film script, and the music often operates like a film score in the sense that it acts as a guide for the audience’s emotions.

The Carmelites were a group of nuns living in a convent in Paris, often used by aristocrats or good families to deposit daughters with emotional problems, as is the case here with the character of Blanche, a nervous, even fearful, pretty young woman who’s elected to come to convent. She’s come at a time of sea change both in the convent and the country. The prioress, Madame de Croissy, is mortally ill and so is France, beset by the bitterest of outrages at the revolution, best by mobs intent on destroying churches, monasteries, convents and anything that smacked of the Catholic clergy.

It’s a feverish, fearful atmosphere, more so after the prioress, raging against God, furious at her suffering, dies, and is replaced by the calm, pragmatic Madame Lidoine. She is placed in charge of a convent full of fear but also with a surge of longing for martyrdom. She’s resistant to the idea—even though their priest comes to hide and warn them of the danger.

In the end, after their arrest, she embraces what is a given prospect; they’re sentenced to death for “gathering in a group”, and all manner of crimes dreamed up by a feverish mob.

The steady, relentless march of the Carmelites toward their fate is conducted in an atmosphere and setting that’s almost feverish. The set by Hildegard Bechtler is a massive, gleaming structure that often dwarfs the nuns who seem to gather strength coming together in groups. Here, in the lighting work by Mark McCullough, shadows surge over the surface, large and small, elliptical and strange, flickering and moving figures against candlelight and mirrors.

In this environment, emotions rise almost naturally. Not only is Blanche burning with fear, but also the audience starts to feel a growing dread as the inevitable outcome approaches.

You have to feel and fear for the characters and in this, the production is served well by the cast—mezzo soprano Dolora Zajick commands the stage from her cot as the dying prioress; rising star soprano Leah Crocetto’s singing is full of clarity with a strong voice that cements leadership qualities—including unto death—of Madame Lidoit. Another new star, Layla Claire plays Blanche with tremulous fragility. She’s like a changeling lost in the forest. Ashley Emerson as Constance seems almost like a too-wise and eager mascot for the group.

WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello’s guides the production by letting it evolve almost organically—as the pace leads the women more and more into the maws of the revolution, they seem to come together as a group—you see them praying lying flat on the ground, coming together in prayer, in debate, in sorrow and fearfulness, and finally, to their end.

The ending is a remarkable piece of stagecraft that would punch and peel the hardest heart—all the nuns, facing the mob, climbing one by one to the platform, singing and chanting hymns, each with a different way of walking, toward the guillotine. The singing is interrupted only by a resounding and sharp thud and all the while the singing continues as their numbers dwindle.

At this point, the proceedings become unforgettable. It seems almost as if, as they all disappear, that the singing is louder and deeper, an illusion of the heart.

(“Dialogues of the Carmelites will be performed again on February 27, and March 5, 8 and 10)

David Roffman • February 26, 2015

Nominations for this year’s Oscars are among the strongest in many a year. The films up for the golden statuette are almost all movies that will stand the test of time. I’ve seen them all except for “Into the Woods” and “Boyhood,” neither of which has played at any theater in Gulf Shores, Alabama. And if they do play here, I won’t go see them. I refuse to see any movie with Meryl Streep (“Into the Woods”). I am boycotting all of her movies after her pathetic performance with Tommy Lee Jones a couple of years ago in “Hope Springs.” By the way, I won’t go see any movie in which Samuel L. Jackson has a role (overacting always, never varying in his acting, and he’ll take any role, any time). So, “The Kingsmen” is already off my 2015 list of movies to see.

Back to the Oscars, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 7 p.m., Feb. 22, Hollywood, Calif., to air live on ABC. “Boyhood.” It sounds like one big crashing bore of a movie. I know, I know. It has already won its fair share of awards, but this is one of those movies that 10 years from now people will still be saying, “How the f—–g hell did this ever win an Oscar?” Don’t believe me? Check back with me in ten years.

For my money, the best films of 2014 are these: “Birdman,” “The Imitation Game,” “American Sniper” and “The Theory of Everything.” “Birdman” or “The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance” is a black comedy-drama that tells the story of an actor (Michael Keaton) — famous for portraying an iconic superhero — as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself. I think the movie itself will win Best Film, Edward Norton Best Supporting Actor and Michael Keaton will earn the Best Actor award. But will it win Best Film?

Of all the movies this past year, I was most moved by Clint Eastwood’s brilliant anti-war movie “American Sniper.” And Georgetown University graduate Bradley Cooper gives a strong performance as Chris Kyle, the soldier who was highly decorated for his four tours of duty in Iraq, only to be killed back home in Texas by a deranged veteran of the same war. If Michael Keaton doesn’t win Best Actor, then Bradley Cooper certainly deserves the award. “American Sniper” is the only movie of all the contenders that I’ve seen twice.

By the way, “American Sniper” is the largest grossing film of 2014. But there have only been four box-office champs that won best picture in the past 30 years. “Rain Man” (1988), “Forrest Gump” (1994), “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003). So, top grossing films do not necessarily fulfill the main criteria for Best Picture. That is why I am worried a film like “Boyhood” might win Best Film. Who has seen this movie?

I’d like to slow down here from the break-neck pace of this column and ask this question about the Oscars: How the hell did Peter O’Toole not win an academy award for Best Actor for his performance in “Lawrence of Arabia”? The Oscars has a big shadow hanging over it ever since this slight.

“The Theory of Everything” is the romantic story between physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife. The lead actors are brilliant. Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife. In any other year, both could win the Best Actor and Actress Awards, but not this year.

Best Actress Oscar will go to Julianne Moore for her stunning performance in “Still Alice.” Best Supporting Actress will be Sienna Miller (“American Sniper”).

If there is a sleeper in all of the nominations, it is Wes Anderson for Best Director (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”). But I just don’t see the academy doing him any justice.

So, there you have my predictions for the 2015 Oscars:

= Best Film: “Birdman”

= Best Actor: Michael Keaton (“Birdman”)

= Best Actress: Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”)

= Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton (“Birdman”)

= Best Supporting Actress: Sienna Miller (“American Sniper”)

= Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Birdman”)

Mary Bird •

The Women’s Board of the American Heart Association Greater Washington Region logged 1,000 hours in planning this year’s always anticipated event which drew 1,200 attendees to the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on Feb. 9 to raise awareness of cardiovascular health issues, the number-one killer among women. Autria Godfrey of ABC7/WJLA-TV emceed and Barbara McConaghy Johnson produced the stunning fashion show of spring 2015 styles from Bloomingdale’s, Chevy Chase. In a special video greeting, news anchor Bret Baier hailed Richard Jonas, M.D., who has overseen their young son’s struggle with congenital heart disease.
[gallery ids="118173,118219,118181,118190,118226,118207,118212,118200" nav="thumbs"]

Riena Santa • February 24, 2015

On Thursday July 19 at the Sewall-Belmont house & museum in DC, the highly anticipated Global Down Syndrome Foundation hosted the 2013 Be Beautiful Be Yourself Gala Kickoff Party. The exciting and fun evening included a fashion preview featuring the stylish urban bohemian look from the Wink collection. It was worn by the models with Down syndrome which were escorted by members of Congress and TV celebrities. Guests included Bob Guiney (from the Bachlor), Scott Grimes (from TV show ER), and several U.S Congressman including Scott Tipton , Cory Gardner, Congressman Mike Coffman, Ed Perlmutter , and Congressman Greg Walden.

With approximately 250 attendees from DC, family members with Down syndrome and interested parties, this grand Fashion show raises awareness to the chromosomal disorder that affects more than one in 700 babies. In effort to inform the audience, Director of Alzheimer disease research and the department of neurology the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, Dr Huntington Potter presented a moving speech that raised the need to help. Abnormalities are caused by errors in the number or structure of chromosomes, and many children with a chromosomal abnormality have mental or physical birth defects. Some chromosomal abnormalities result in miscarriage or stillbirth and understanding what chromosomes make it easier to recognize the wide range of problems chromosomal abnormalities can cause.

Guest attendee Sara Brown said “I’m here in support of my family member Laila Brown and because I believe that there is a cure that someday will be found. Brown said that Laila is very active, she has been doing 2 years of special Olympics and various other events like this fashion show. Brown also said “She has such a strong spirit and I know that events like this will help further the research process to finding a cure for this syndrome” .

For further information or a chance to donate and help the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, contact PR Abby Perlmutter 303.468.6665 or visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/GDSFoundation and their twitter page @GDSFoundation.
[gallery ids="100915,128750,128743,128729,128738" nav="thumbs"]