Arts & Society

Ari Post •

National Portrait Gallery

“Out of Many, One” by Jorge
Rodriquez-Gerada
Through Oct. 31, 2015
A grand landscape portrait by Cuban American artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada will be placed on the National Mall from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. “Out of Many, One,” the English translation of “E pluribus unum,” will stretch across six acres of land midway between the World War II and Lincoln memorials along the south side of the Reflecting Pool. The work, built out of dirt and sand, is a composite portrait of several people photographed in Washington. The portrait is an interactive walk-through experience, and is also viewable from the top of the newly reopened Washington Monument.

Time Covers the 1960s
Through Aug. 9, 2015
Time magazine covers from the 1960s were created by some of the foremost artists of the day. This exhibition of original cover art from the museum’s collection will explore the major newsmakers and trends that defined that era, from Kennedy’s inauguration and the civil rights movement, to “one giant leap for mankind.”

American Art Museum

Untitled: The Art of James Castle
Sept. 26, 2014 – Feb. 1, 2015
Since Castle’s work first came to light in the 1950s, attention has focused on his unusual life: Castle was born deaf, remained illiterate, and never acquired a conventional mode of communicating with others. “Untitled” seeks to appreciate the remarkable quality of Castle’s vision as an artist, with subjects that range from farms and family portraits, to snippets of popular culture, and even invented words and symbols, fantastical calendars, and books with cryptic pictorial narratives.

Richard Estes’ Realism
Through Feb. 8, 2015
Richard Estes has long been considered the leading painter of the photorealist movement of the 1960s and 70s, and he has been celebrated for more than forty-five years as the premier painter of American cityscapes. “Richard Estes’ Realism” is the most comprehensive exhibition of Estes’ paintings ever organized, tracing his career from the late 60s to 2013. The exhibition features forty-six paintings spanning a fifty-year career.

The Singing and the Silence: Birds in Contemporary Art
Oct. 31, 2014 – Feb. 22, 2015
Since the dawn of humanity, birds have been a source of cultural, religious, and even political symbolism. “The Singing and the Silence” examines mankind’s relationship to birds through the eyes of twelve contemporary American artists. The opening of the exhibit dovetails with two significant environmental anniversaries—the extinction of the passenger pigeon in 1914 and the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964.

The Kreeger Museum

Emilie Brzezinski: The Lure of the Forest
Through Dec. 27, 2014
The Lure of the Forest is an exhibition of monumental wood sculptures by Emilie Brzezinski, which highlights the artist’s fascination with trees and adoration for the environment. The museum pays homage to this masterful sculptor, who for over thirty years has used chainsaws and hand chisels to carve discarded tree trunks into majestic forms.

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips
Through June 7, 2015
In 1949, Wendell Phillips, a young paleontologist and geologist, headed one of the largest archaeological expeditions to remote South Arabia (present-day Yemen) on a quest to uncover the ancient cities of Timna, the capital of the Qataban kingdom, and Marib, the reputed home of the legendary Queen of Sheba. Through a selection of artifacts, film and photography shot by the expedition team, this exhibit recreates his adventures and conveys the thrill of discovery on this great archaeological frontier.

Fine Impressions: Whistler, Freer, and Venice
In 1887, museum founder Charles Lang Freer purchased twenty-six atmospheric etchings of Venice by the artist James McNeill Whistler, marking the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between collector and artist. “Fine Impressions” shows how this acquisition came to shape Freer’s legacy as a connoisseur and collector.

Style in Chinese Landscape Painting: The Yuan Legacy
Nov. 22, 2014 – May 31, 2015
Landscape painting is one of the most outstanding achievements of Chinese culture. Key styles in this genre emerged during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) and are still followed today. This exhibition includes the earliest work in the Freer|Sackler collections together with later examples tracing the characteristics and evolution of six styles.

The Phillips Collection

Neo-Impressionism and the Dream of Realities: Painting, Poetry, Music
Through Jan. 11, 2015
Famed pointillist painter Georges Seurat and his friends presented Neo-Impressionism, their new style of painting, for the first time in 1886 in Paris, where it drew immediate attention. That same year, a group of writers published a definition of “Symbolism” in literature that called for a focus on the inner world of the mind rather than external reality. This exhibit presents more than 70 works by 15 artists, including Seurat and Camille Pissarro, that reflect the Neo-Impressionist’s preoccupation with the idea, emotion, or synergy of the senses.

Art Museum of the Americas

Modern and Contemporary Art in the Dominican Republic
Through Feb. 1, 2015
“Modern and Contemporary Art in the Dominican Republic: Works from the Customs Office Collection” showcases the consistency, quality and diversity of the Collection of the Directorate General of Customs, which sets the Office apart as an unlikely and important creative space. These works reiterate that the Caribbean is not vernacular, helping illuminate the deeper cultural and social resonance of the islands and its art.

National Gallery of Art

A Subtle Beauty: Platinum Photographs from the Collection
Oct. 5, 2014 – Jan. 4, 2015
With a velvety surface and extraordinary tonal depth, the platinum print played an important role in establishing photography as a fine art during the late 19th century. This exhibition showcases outstanding platinum prints from the 1880s to the 1920s, including works by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Alvin Langdon Coburn.

El Greco: A 400th Anniversary Celebration
November 2, 2014 – February 16, 2015
On the 400th anniversary of El Greco’s death, the National Gallery of Art presents a commemorative exhibition of the artist’s paintings. A selection of devotional works illustrates El Greco’s role as artist of the Counter-Reformation, while others shed light on his commercial practices.

Hirshhorn

At the Hub of Things: New Views of the Collection
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Hirshhorn recently completed the first comprehensive renovation of their third level galleries, returning the sweeping spaces to architect Gordon Bunshaft’s original design. The first exhibition in the new galleries, “At the Hub of Things” reveals a fresh perspective on the museum’s collection, accentuating the museum’s role as a dynamic “hub” where diverse ideas converge. Included are favorite artworks that have not been on view in years, such as large-scale installations by Spencer Finch, Robert Gober, Bruce Nauman and Ernesto Neto, as well as paintings and sculptures by Janine Antoni, Cai Guo-Qiang, Alfred Jensen and Brice Marden.

Days of Endless Time
In a world conditioned by the ceaseless flow of digital media and information, many artists are countering these tendencies with works that emphasize slower, more meditative forms of perception. “Days of Endless Time” presents fourteen installations that offer prismatic vantage points into the suspension of time. Themes include escape, solitude, enchantment, and the thrall of nature.
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Robert Devaney •

As the Georgetown Gala makes the scene this Friday at the Italian Embassy, it joins other big-time soirees around the city at the height of Washington, D.C.’s social calendar.

The gala’s theme, “Fly Me to the Moon” evokes an optimistic 1960s feeling with Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, “Mad Men” and man’s first landing on the moon. Expect to see some Franks and Sammys walking around, some Don Drapers and Jane Harrises, too — maybe even Buzz Aldrin, or one Georgetowner, who is, in fact, a retired space shuttle commander.

Started in 2003 as the 125th anniversary celebration of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, the party has become the hot ticket in town, attracting about 400 partygoers to the association’s biggest annual fundraiser.

Georgetown’s advocate for residents and homeowners descends from D.C.’s first civic group, the Georgetown Citizens Association, formed in 1878, which merged in 1963 with the Progressive Citizens Association of Georgetown to form CAG. Past victories include the passage of the Old Georgetown Act in 1950 and saving the Old Stone House.

Today, the group works with neighbors, businesses, Georgetown University, the Metropolitan Police Department and other groups. The association sees “Georgetown as a residential community, a historic treasure, an educational center and a vital component of the District of Columbia’s retail and tourism economy. The association seeks to maintain a unique mix of missions for the community . . .”

Together, the list of what CAG does is impressive: tree plantings, concerts in the parks, an oral history project, a public safety program, historic preservation, town-gown relations, monthly meetings and an online bulletin board and efforts on trash and rodents. It is all the more impressive that much of the work is done by volunteers from the community – and with an annual operating budget of $545,000.

This year, the annual black-tie blowout will honor former mayoral candidate and Ward 2 Councilmember (since 1991) Jack Evans and his wife Michele Seiver Evans and their six children, who live on P Street (a modern-day Brady Bunch). Chair of the Committee on Finance and Revenue, Jack Evans is closely involved with decisions on D.C. taxes and budgets. He was in the forefront in pushing for approval of the Verizon Center and Nationals Park. Michele is very active in CAG, its Trees for Georgetown as well as Volta Park and the Georgetown House Tour – and, now, Dog Tag Bakery (more on this later).

“CAG, for me as a newcomer, was such an inviting place,” said Michele Evans. “When I married Jack, I’d forgotten which side was east or west. Georgetown is a village: everybody takes care of everybody.”

She echoed her husband’s refrain: “This is the golden age of Georgetown.” (How many years has Jack said this?)

“The minute I got involved with CAG, they invited me on committees,” Evans said. “It was my pleasure to help.” Mentioning bicycling or jumping on the Circulator bus, she said that she liked that the town is so walkable.

As for CAG’s annual gala, it is a great time for “neighbors to catch up with neighbors,” Michele said.

The high-energy event — with lots of hellos, hugs and dancing — gathers residents, organizations, businesses and local politicos to celebrate Georgetown and CAG’s mission of historic preservation and improving the life of the community. The list of attendees and sponsors reads like a who’s who of the town. The food will be provided, appropriately enough, by Cafe Milano, the Italian restaurant on Prospect Street that is a center of its own social scene in Washington.

Honorary chairs are Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero and his wife Laura Denise, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt, former Sen. Joseph Lieberman and his wife Hadassah, and John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, and Kitty Kelley, who provides another gala tie-in. She wrote “His Way: An Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra.” The famous crooner, bon vivant and businessman was not pleased. Kelley was sued by Sinatra even before she began to write the book. The lawsuit was dismissed. Three hundred signed copies of her Sinatra book will be given away at Friday’s big party.

It was gala co-chairs Jennifer Altemus, Colleen Girouard and Robin Jones who came up with the evening theme of “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Written in 1954 as “In Other Words,” the song was recorded by many artists and was made forever famous by Sinatra, who sang “Fly Me to the Moon” as a tribute to America’s Apollo astronauts. The singer would have astronauts in his Las Vegas audience as they took a break from training at nearby Nellis Air Force Base. The song itself became the first music heard on the moon, played by Aldrin — second man on the moon — who told song arranger Quincy Jones about it later.

With such music as a background, the gala’s entertainment, Danny Meyers and his DC Love band, will step up. For the after party, disc jockeys Trophy Brothers will keep it moving.

Gala co-chair Jones said, “Colleen and I have been a great team chairing the gala for the past two years — and with Jennifer this year. We just want to create a memorable experience for party guests that keeps them coming back. This year is our best effort yet.” She added, “Being involved with CAG is like having your finger on the pulse of Georgetown.”

After moving back to town, co-chair Girouard joined the association six years ago and found that “it was very best way to meet my neighbors.”

Altemus, the group’s president from 2009 to 2013, said, “I am impressed with all that CAG is able to do with its mostly volunteer staffing. It really adds to the feeling that we live in a small town with all of the big city conveniences and benefits.”

CAG President Pamla Moore sees a safe neighborhood and historic preservation among top concerns and said, “If it wasn’t for community members who actively give their time and talents, Georgetown would not be the wonderful place it is.” Betsy Cooley, the group’s executive director for the last 10 years, said she has a great job, “because all I have to do is keep up with the volunteers.”

Those involved with the group stay with it, such as past presidents Victoria Rixey, Barbara Downs, Ray Kukulski and Denise Cummingham, who began the annual gala, as well as Don Shannon and Kathleen Graff. Other names from years gone by include Ev Shorey, Louis Alexander Traxel, Grosvenor Chapman, Charles Poor, Olcott Deming, Peter Belin, Juan Cameron and Eva Hinton.

The live auction at the gala will be called by Griff Jenkins of Fox News. Items include a Washington Nationals game package, a party for 25 persons at Evermay, a five-night stay in a Sicilian villa, a three-night stay at the Vail Four Seasons, a three-night getaway to the Landings on Skidaway Island in Savannah, Ga., and a weekend at the Georgetown Four Seasons with spa treatments, dinner and rooftop cocktails at the Capella. Silent auction items include dinners at Kafé Leopold, Unum and Peacock Café, plus glassware by A Mano, a wine package and more.

So, raise a glass at the Georgetown Gala Oct. 24 to our kind of town. There are few strangers in the night here. And while CAG wants to “Fly [Us] to the Moon,” we will always come home to Georgetown.
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Gary Tischler •

The pianist Orion Weiss, the 2010 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist of the Year, will have an unusual partner in his Washington Performing Arts concert at the Kennedy Center in the Terrace Theater Nov. 11.

In addition to performing three Schumann pieces—“Papillons,” “Blumenstuck, Op.19” and “Novellette, Op. 21, No. 8”—he also has DeBussy’s “La boite a joujoux (“The Toy Box”) as the centerpiece of his concert.

His creative partner in the concert will be something you might have coming out of a toy box, the renowned Salzburg Marionettes, one of the oldest marionette companies in the world, founded in 1913 in Mozart’s birthplace.

The company—it has its own puppet version of “The Sound of Music,” for one thing—is noted for its performances with live musical accompaniment. Still, a solo artist taking on puppets is rare—Andras Schiff has also done it.

The presence of the famed marionette company is part of a special program by Washington Performing Arts, saluting puppetry called “Welcome to Mars: A Salute to D.C. Puppetry”.

There was a community puppetry building event at the Brookland Farmer’s Market Nov. 8 as well as a D.C. Puppet Slam with Washington and Baltimore area puppeteers at Bus Boys & Poets at 5th and K Streets Nov. 10..

Featured area puppetry artists included puppeteers Schroeder Cherry, DinoRock Productions, Don Becker, Katherine Fahey, the Puppet Company, the Black Cherry Puppet Theater, Blue Sky Puppet Theater and Pointless Theater.

It’s under the umbrella of the Mars Urban Arts Initiative, created by Washington Performing Arts with the support of Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated. The Initiative works to fuel joint planning between WPA and grassroots neighborhood arts makers, local business, local arts institutions and local residents.
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Ari Post •

“A Tribute to Anita Reiner” at the Phillips Collection (through Jan. 4)

The career of Anita Reiner, one of Washington’s most passionate contemporary art collectors, was given shape by her early experiences at the Phillips Collection. As a young collector, she visited the famous Mark Rothko room when it was first installed in the 1960s. While there, an elderly gentlemen inquired about her response to the work, which she initially dismissed. This stranger told Reiner, “Young lady, you always have to meet new art half way.” She later found out that this man was museum founder Duncan Phillips, and she never forgot his words.

Reiner passed away in August of last year, and this tribute exhibit is the first to explore her landmark collection. At its center is Anselm Kiefer’s “Dein blondes Haar, Margarete (Your golden Hair, Marguerite)” of 1981, recently gifted to the Phillips by Reiner’s family in her memory. The other 12 works in the exhibition, selected from Reiner’s collection, are by Mimmo Paladino, Robert Mapplethorpe, Fred Wilson, Katharina Fritsch, Yayoi Kusama, Wangechi Mutu, Shilpa Gupt, Zhang Huan, Gabriel Orozco, El Anatsui, Shirin Neshat and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

www.PhillipsCollection.org

“The Intimate Diebenkorn” and “Sculpture Now 2014” at the Katzen Arts Center (through Dec. 14)

Foremost of the remarkable exhibitions now at American University’s Katzen Center is “The Intimate Diebenkorn: Works on Paper: 1949-1992,” the first show produced by the Diebenkorn Foundation. Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) was the painter’s painter. One would be hard pressed to find a working artist today that does not adore this man’s work. It is painting as the idea in itself, which seems to speak about everything – about an artist in his environment, but also about things transcending any singular time, place or individual. “The idea is to get everything right,” Diebenkorn once said, rather prophetically. This gem of a show features 40 of Diebenkorn’s works on paper, most of which have never been publicly viewed. The selected works of pencil and ink drawings, collages of torn paper and watercolors portray a richly intimate glimpse into the artist’s evolution spanning more than 40 years.
Also on view is the Washington Sculptors Group’s 30th anniversary exhibition, “Sculpture Now 2014.” The notion of sculpture has evolved dramatically in the last thirty years. In 1978, the art theorist Rosalind Krauss declared that sculpture as a discipline had collapsed because of the wide range of practices. More recently Johanna Burton remarked that the category of sculpture had not collapsed but was rather “a state of being.” Curated by AU Museum Director Jack Rasmussen, the exhibition endeavors to respond to Krauss and Burton’s speculation with a selection of contemporary sculpture.

www.American.edu

“Eye on Elegance” at the DAR Museum (through Sept. 2015)??

In “Eye on Elegance,” the DAR Museum uses its extraordinarily rich holdings of Maryland and Virginia quilts to examine regional styles prior to 1860. The exhibition seeks to reveal the true story behind each subtle, deceivingly beautiful masterpiece.?Because historical knowledge of the quiltmakers is well preserved, one can identify these quilts by hyperlocal regions of Maryland or Virginia, and explore the makers’ histories, including the family and household members in each quilter’s home that may have helped stitch the tapestries.?The show is divided into four sections: the ‘Appliqué’ section presents quilts and counterpanes of chintz appliqué, or with appliqué centers; the ‘Pieced’ section features mathematical stars, strippies and other designs; Baltimore and Maryland ‘Albums’ have their own section; and the ‘Migration’ section examines quilting designs moving between continents and to other regions of the United States.??

eyeonelegance.dar.org??

“El Greco” at the National Gallery of Art?(through Feb. 16)??

The artist Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), universally known as El Greco, was born on the Greek island of Crete. Aspiring to success on a larger stage, he moved to Venice in his late twenties and absorbed the lessons of High Renaissance masters Titian and Tintoretto. He then departed for Rome, where he studied the work of Michelangelo and encountered mannerism, a style which defied the naturalism of Renaissance art.?Relocating to Spain in 1576, El Greco spent the rest of his life in Toledo, where he achieved unprecedented mastery as a painter of Byzantine icons, developed an artistic vision that captured the religious fervor of Counter-Reformation Spain and defined something of the grainy, arid Spanish landscape that has shaped the aura of its cultural heritage from that point onward (think Don Quixote).?The National Gallery has seven paintings by El Greco, one of the largest collections of his work in the United States. Four of them have recently returned from Spain, where they were featured in major exhibitions honoring the 400th anniversary of the artist’s death. The reunited paintings are joined here by three others from Dumbarton Oaks and the Phillips Collection and from the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.??

www.NGA.gov

Gary Tischler • November 17, 2014

The director Robert Richmond is not shy about messing with the classics—he’s known for his bold stagings at the Folger Theater, including a ‘Richard III’ which practically disemboweled the stately, familiar Elizabethan theater and saw that grand old villain Richard and other characters mingle with audience members while the many murder victims were unceremoniously dumped in openings on the stage.

Richmond isn’t quite so extravagant with “Julius Caesar”, that most familiar of Shakespeare’s plays, but he does put a recognizable and pointed touch on the tale of the consequences of murdering the overweening, charismatic and ambitious Roman would-be-ruler-of-them-all.

You might not recognize the play or the place when you walk in—no senators in white robes, ceremonial or otherwise, no red-cloth generals, no sunlit forum. The prevailing colors are all dark—shades of gray, black and brown and so are the costumes. Ghosts abound—as soon as a characters die—and many of them do—they become hooded wanderers in the afterlife to haunt the living, looking a lot like the soothsayer.

We are not, by the looks of things, in Republican or ancient Rome, but rather in ancient-ancient Rome in the first act, in what looks like the landscapes of modern warfare in the second act, in the middle of yet another war to end all wars, where the dogs of war have indeed been loosed.

This has the effect of electrifying the play, make it something brand new, but at the same time, there’s a certain amount of confusion in this approach, especially the attempt to put a stamp of “war is hell” on the second act.

But enough: “I’m here to praise this ‘Caesar’”, not to bury it.

What Richmond’s approach does do is make this play fresh and by reputation alone, it needs it. This is the best “Caesar” I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever, short of the Brando-Mason black and white movie version many, many moons ago.

This is a Shakespeare that practically sounds like a staged version of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, so familiar are so many of the lines and speeches in the play. And yet, perhaps because of the unsettling staging, the lines and speeches seem somehow fresh, accessible, almost contemporary in the speaking and the playing.

Just a stone’s throw from Capitol Hill, where many a scheming senator makes a living, this is also a very political play by its nature. It’s about politics and power, its uses and misuses, about action and inaction, about calculation and mis-calculation. Here we have a man—Julius Caesar who’s all but created the foundation of the expanding Roman empire through his military victories. Here’s a man with populist charisma who’s not very interested in sharing power. He’s a modern man of his times, in a Roman republic built on strands of Greek democracy and an unbending class systems.

In the shadows, Roman senators, seeing themselves as upholders of Republican tradition, plot against Caesar, because he’s ambitious, because he’s taken on aspects of a tyrant. Cassius, with his lean look and jealousies, knows they need Brutus, the Roman with the noblest lineage, to participate in the assassination of Caesar.

In this murky, dark atmosphere, there is a sense of foreboding all around—not just a soothsayer warning again of the Ides of March, but dark omens, and whispers in the dark. Cassius enlists Brutus by appealing to his honor, pride and ego, until, in the end, he delivers the final thrust of a dagger to his mentor and friend, who collapses with his famous last words: “Et Tu, Brutus?”

Yes, him too.

Having slain the head of state, it’s all downhill for the conspirators, if not the play. Brutus, being an honorable man, makes the mistake of letting Anthony speak last in the funeral oration, and the war is pretty much lost by the conspirators right then and there.

I’m bothered by the mix-mash of WW1 (and WWII) helmets worn by the battling forces—it’s a civil war after all, but the second act also moves like a chariot race.

Directorial flourishes aside, it’s always the actors that make a bad, fair, good to better than good “Julius Caesar”. This one’s better than good. Michael Sharon gives Caesar an almost rock-star quality, a man who believes absolutely in his star power, and will eventually veer towards absolutism. And speaking of rock stars—there’s Maurice Jones as Mark Antony, Caesar’s ally and friend, who kills it in the funeral oration, essentially lighting up Rome in a civil war. And Louis Butelli practically channels John Malkovitch as Cassius in a lights out performance that makes the character more than just a jealous conspirator—his wooing of Brutus is based in friendship and love.

Anthony Cochrane, I think, has solved the riddle of Brutus—he’s the pivotal character in the play, yet somehow never takes command of the play. That’s not the actor’s fault—this Brutus is a cerebral man, a careful man who errs always on the side of humility lest he appear arrogant, like Caesar, which of course he is. He holds himself in—even when he gets the news that his wife has killed herself by eating fire, he barely raises an eyebrow until he shudders alone in his tent.

It’s a revealing way to deal with Brutus—“the noblest Roman of them all” has a noble lineage but not enough of a noble bearing to carry the day. He’s been told that he’s an honorable man by too many people, including with sarcastic and deadly effect by Antony.

Gary Tischler •

The thing about the bad Jews in the young playwright Joshua Harmon’s play “Bad Jews” is that they’re really baaad, as in Ming the Merciless bad.

I don’t mean to suggest that they’re evil or villains—it’s that I care not a whit and wit about how deep the wounds or that they open with their verbal assaults on each other, how much damage they do, how much blood is on the floor.

Yes, the play, now being given a blood-sharp, claustrophobic staging at Studio Theatre under the direction of Serge Seiden, and with a brilliant cast of young actors is terrifically engaging. If these guys and gals were riding a bus, they’d be thrown off, but on stage. The verbal combat they engage in is compelling: you can’t shut your eyes, you can’t close your eyes and you can’t escape. So, you might as well stay and go into shock.

Part of the fascination is that the play is very, very smartly, sharply written and is very, very funny, like a late-night set with Lenny Bruce at his most intelligently, incessantly and carelessly cruel.

The characters in the play are all Jewish, but there’s no wise men here, no cliché Jewish mothers. It’s not even “Fiddler on the Roof,” which oddly enough wrestles with some of the same core issues that lie at the heart of the scorched-earth debates in “Bad Jews.” Is being Jewish a religion or a culture? Is secular better than orthodox? Where does self-interest meet or simply bypass strict religious observance? What does it mean to be a Jew in the early part of the 21st century?

The major combatants in this close-quarter (it’s set in a cramped New York City apartment) fight are Daphna, a transformed, fierce champion of being a real Jewish woman in an increasingly secular world, and Liam (ne Schlomo), who is as cooly, briskly, smartly secular young Jewish man as you want to meet. They’re all college age—Liam and Daphna, as well as Liam’s nebbish and soft brother Jonah and Melody, the wispy, waspy, blonde girl and intended future, non-Jewish wife who was once a music major.

The occasion: it’s the day after the death of their grandfather and emotional, heritage lynchpin of the family, a Holocaust survivor who’s always been part metaphor, part beloved patriarch to the young cousins.

Liam, being stuck without a cell phone in Aspen, Colo., didn’t make it to the funeral, and instead has brought Melody along. They’re all stuck in this high-end little place Liam and Jonah’s parents have bought for just such an occasion. Daphna, who’s returned from a life-changing trip to Israel—she wants to join the Israeli army, she’s got a presumed Israeli boyfriend—comes from a less well off part of the family and is full of anger—not just about Jewish traditions or the lack thereof, but economic envy and resentment as well

In comes another complication, the real source of the battle, a fight for a “Poppy” heirloom, a life-symbol pendant or “chai” that he kept under his tongue at the concentration camp. He used it as an engagement gift in his early years, and it’s intended for that use, apparently. Now, who gets the heirloom?

Liam wants it to use to give to Melody. Daphna says she deserves it because she’s the genuine article as an observant, traditional Jew. The fight once it gets going, appears about other things too—it’s entirely likely that Daphna’s resentment of Liam hides a deep-seated crush.

The fighting words are witty, funny, viscous, to the core and heart—Daphna is all passion, but armed with a gift for crushing insults. Liam is all precision and manipulation, the rational man, who whittles away vulnerable hearts until they’re the size of a raisin.

The actors dive into this with relish—especially Irene Sofia Lucio, as Daphna with her wild hair, her breathless, wild and looping thrusts, and Alex Mendell as Liam, the cold, rational, deadly customer. Theirs is a fight that seems close to violence and possible murder. They get so close to each other at full, screaming volume that you almost plug your ears.

Maggy Erwin, who has a sweet heart as the sweetheart of Liam, has her moments. She’s both touching and funny, including in a show-stopping moment, while Joe Paulik makes the most out of his silence and physical moves as the shy pacifier, who wants nothing more than to escape the bloodletting.

It’s terrific theater—and Harmon has the gift of gab. Nevertheless, because the fighting is so horrific, you want a little more consequence, a little more what-happens-next and why. Maybe that’s impossible, given the wounds inflicted.

“Bad Jews” runs through Dec. 21 at Studio Theatre.

Robert Devaney • November 12, 2014

The OSS Society’s Gen. William Donovan Awards Dinner was held Oct. 25 at the Ritz-Carlton and gave its highest salute to Leon Panetta, President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, President Barack Obama’s director of the Central Intelligence Agency — and most recently, Secretary of Defense. Panetta was signing copies of his political memoirs, “Worthy Fights,” published last month. The spies and military prom is an annual honoring of Gen. William Donovan, leader of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, and OSS veterans. The OSS was the precursor to the CIA. The dinner is full of toasts, speeches, awards and bold-face names. Sometimes, it holds an eye-raising surprise, such as the year Gen. Petraeus was at the dinner and his erstwhile mistress Paula Broadwell was in the ballroom, too. This year, a student film spoof about Donovan and the OSS displeased Gen. John Singlaub so much that it moved OSS Society President Charles Pinck to issue an apology. Otherwise, the night was alight with tales of men and women, past and present, that made guests proud to be an American. [gallery ids="101913,136248,136251" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler • November 10, 2014

She came, she talked and told stories, she laughed and, of course, she conquered.

In a nutshell, that was the story of the appearance of new Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter at the Georgetown Media Group’s latest and last of this year’s Cultural Leadership Breakfasts at the George Town Club.

Her appearance was a part of an ongoing story—her story, as she navigates her way through the city and the center, telling and listening. In every telling, at every stop, she fills out her story and thinking and philosophy about the art and artists, about the Kennedy Center’s place in the city and the nation, and about her own life in the arts.

We have had occasion to encounter Rutter at least four times—at the public announcement of her being named to what may be the biggest cultural and performance arts job in the country, in a telephone interview on her first official day on the job, when she started the conversation by talking about what was her biggest job that day: “picking out my daughters clothes for her first day in school.”

Several weeks ago, we saw Rutter in her first talk at the National Press Club. Even as she deftly handled being grilled on such matters as the stature of the National Symphony and the Washington National Opera and the state of the Millennium Stage and the contratemps surrounding Kennedy Center Honors selection, she began to formulate certain themes—collaboration with other arts institution, art as life, story telling, bringing the arts to the neighborhoods, the ideas of arts and performance arts especially, as a shared and unique experience.

In the process, certain characteristics emerge—she has what seems a sense of humor based in enthusiasm—at the George Town Club, an intimate setting that speaks to history, she delighted in being introduced as growing up in Encino, Califo., “which makes her a Valley girl.” She laughed and agreed. “I am a Valley girl,” she said. “And I’m proud of it.” Which reminded me of the telephone conversation, we had when she said, “Don’t let anybody kid you. We’re all rock and roll babies.”

Over time, that accessibility leads you to a very democratic notion about the arts — not only that art is for everyone but that all sorts of things can be art. “I believe there is such a thing as art for art’s sake, but it shouldn’t be a limiting idea, the notion that art is only for a certain amount of people. It’s the one thing in life that makes everyone’s life better. To me, it becomes art for life’s sake. There is something there in art that unites us—watching the WNO’s ‘La Boheme’ the other night was a beautiful experience. It’s a beautiful work, and it brought in young people and older people. In this way, it’s all a shared experience.”

“We are all in this business in one way or another,” she said. “It’s about story telling. Some of you I know do that, tell stories, factual stories, about the arts. We’re all story-tellers, all the arts tell stories—film, music can tell a story, paintings tell stories, the opera—love, betrayal, anger, murder, greed—stories, powerful stories.”

Rutter told stories—some short vignettes, about moving here. “I like to settle in to have my neighborhood grocery store, the school, the park, for the length of time that I’m here,” she said. “I was in Chicago a long time, certainly, and it’s hard to say goodbye to friends and places, but it’s also exciting to be in a new place with new challenges.” When she was told there was a Giant in her neighborhood about to open, she was delighted. Art in life, everywhere.

She told the story, and it took a while, it was one she had told before, how when she hired and she was right, I’d heard it before but in the telling—how when she was head of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, she had hired famed Italian conductor Riccardo Muti as music director. “We all had thought of ways to reach out to the larger, under-deserved community in Chicago, trying ways to do that.

“Muti suggested we go to prisons,” she recalled. “Our jaws dropped. What in the world kind of moment.”

In the end, she said, “That’s what we did, we went to a juvenile detention center for teenaged girls. One of our chorus people set up a program to teach some of the girls composition, writing melodies or songs, about their own lives, making a kind of art out of their lives, art as life. And Muti came, and they performed their efforts, and he hauled in this Steinway into the prison, and oh, my God, it was a powerful experience, for them, communicating their lives to us because it was not easy for them.”

“This is also what it’s about, art is the way we communicate our lives to others, through stories, through music,” she said.

Rutter is known for collaboration, for promoting the works of living composers and was intrigued by last year’s hip-hop festival. She is interested in the challenge and opportunities presented by the Kennedy Center’s proposed new renovation and expansion.

She was asked about the rise of women leaders in the arts. “Well, I have to tell you, I received a lot from my father, who made me believe I can do anything,” she said. “He was my first feminist. But I think it is a good sign all across the country. This is especially noted in this city, where women are becoming such a presence in government.”

A voice on the phone, a woman behind a lectern being introduced, effortlessly holding the Press Club audience or moving, without lectern, mike or notes, in the small confines of the George Town Club, at home and at ease in her skin in each setting. Rutter — who plays piano and violin — brings her own kind of music to each occasion.

Mary Bird • November 7, 2014

The Fairmont Hotel, Washington, D.C., was canine costume central as indulgent pets enjoyed peanut butter doggie biscuits and their proud humans sipped “Witches’ Brew” in the hotel’s courtyard at the third annual holiday event. First prize for creativity went to the Parker family representing the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team with Liberty as “Rufferee.” [gallery ids="101917,136214,136223,136220" nav="thumbs"]