Design Elements Provide the Perfect Ambience for Moxie Theatre’s Birds of North America

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. 

 

Mike Sears as the father and Farah Dinga as the daughter in Birds of North America, with scenic design by Robin Sanford Roberts and lighting by Joshua Heming. (Photo: Moxie Theatre)

One of the definitions of moxie is “force of character” and Moxie Theatre, a 99-seat venue on El Cajon Boulevard, has had that on display for almost two decades.

Moxie started its award-filled existence with a team of gifted, forward-thinking women: Executive Artistic Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg and co-founders Jo Anne Glover, Liv Kellgren and Jennifer Thorn. Their mission: to seek out and present more diverse images of women and offer greater opportunities for women to act, write and direct shows that would get audiences thinking, talking, and coming back for more.

Birds of North America, now onstage through March 5, is a great example of what Moxie can do. Billed as “a play about fathers, daughters, and what we choose to see,” it’s really a brilliantly acted two-hander that uses backyard birding as the main bond between one often off-putting father and his daughter, who keeps trying to close the distances between them. They have some heavy conversations, interspersed with flashes of humor, as they do their birdwatching during her autumnal visits over many years. We, the audience, only hear the birds, never see them, but we can’t take our eyes or our ears off the two humans onstage.

I can’t remember the last time I saw actors so completely inhabit their characters. These are not bravura performances but thoughtful, committed ones. Their words and reactions to each other are so believable that I could feel the whole audience’s involvement, along with my own.

In fact, Mike Sears originated the role of John, the father, in the Wagner New Play Festival at La Jolla Playhouse in 2017, so he’s got all John’s nuances down. And Farah Dinga, an actor/playwright trained at UC San Diego, is with him every step of the way as his daughter Caitlyn.

Farah Dinga, in a solo moment, beautifully lit. (Photo: Moxie Theatre)

A big help in creating the mood of the play is the autumnal setting, with scenic design by Robin Sanford Roberts (@mzrobin on Instagram—so apropos!). She studied architecture before going on to an MFA in Theatrical Set Design at UCSD and designing numerous productions from then on, receiving a Tony nomination for her work on the Broadway show It Ain’t Nothin But the Blues. Her trees seem far more than two- dimensional, and the evocative lighting by Joshua Heming, an MFA student at SDSU, makes the setting glow.

There isn’t exactly a happy ending, but you’ll surely be happy if you get to see this show while it’s still here. It’s the next-to-last one under the leadership of Jennifer Thorn, the last of Moxie’s original founding foursome, who has been Executive Artistic Director since 2017 and is now moving on.

In line with the times, Moxie is currently searching for a new woman+ director. Hopefully, they’ll keep moving forward, as they’ve been doing since 2005. Long may they wave!

In honor of the Birds production, Moxie and the San Diego Audubon Society co-sponsored a contest, asking for personal short stories and photos on the topic “How I Fell for Birds.” Photos and stories are on display in the lobby. 

The Winning Photo: City Bird. (Photo: Holly Hilliard)

An SDVAN Extra:  Toni Robin—another Robin!—won one of the Honorable Mentions, but only her story is here on display. Best known as a great disseminator of Art & Culture PR, she sent us her photo so you can see for yourself.  

A Robin is a Reluctant Birder.  (Photo: Toni Robin)

BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA
Written by Anna Ouyang Moench
Directed by Lisa Berger
At Moxie Theatre through March 5.
6663 El Cajon Blvd., Suite N
San Diego, CA 92115

Only four more performances: Feb. 28-March 5.
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.  Friday & Saturday: 8 p.m. (Masks recommended, but not required.) Masked Matinee Sunday, March 5, 2 p.m.
Tickets & info: (858) 598-7620 or boxoffice@moxietheatre.com

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Balboa Park Museum Round UP for Feb 2023

by Patricia Frischer 

Sreshta Rit Premnath

I spent a rainy Sunday afternoon in Balboa Park and was rewarded with an entire load of images and stories. The entire museum area was packed, but the museums themselves were not too crowded. I later found out that there was a Fungus Fair which is in its 25^th year put on by The San Diego Mycological Society. That explained why parking was impossible!

Sreshta Rit Premnath: Grave/Grove at ICA Central until Feb 26, 2023 

Sreshta Rit Premnath is an Indian artist based in Brooklyn so it is not surprising that these American big city materials are combined with live plants in this exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art Central in Balboa Park. I saw the show Feb 19 and the plants are almost all dead. The watering system set in plastic bottles like IV drips is symbolic and it is sad to see these little weeds struggling to survive.  What did strike me was the exit signs with their simple words illuminated like poetry trying to show you the way. I also appreciated the large sculptures which are no beautifully curved and loved finding out that they were made from bed foam of some kind, draped over solid object and covered with plaster to solidify their positions.  

 

Carlo Miranda: In Search of Sonder at the San Diego Museum of Art until Nov 19, 2023

 

The Filipino-American, Carlo Miranda lives in North Park and works as a registered nurse but he is an amazing portrait artist. You can tell he chooses his subjects carefully and with an eye for authenticity.  The works are kind but very intimate and very realistic.

John Koenig is an author who wrote The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows  where he invented new words for emotions. In the title of the show,  In Search of Sonder,  sonder is described by the  author, as “the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own….” So maybe when you see these portraits, you can relate in some way to Carlo Miranda and his complexities.  

P.S. Art of Elan presents Portraits and Pictures at San Diego Museum of Art  on March 15 at 7 pm inspired by these fascinating works. 

Myth and Magic: 16th Annual Juried Youth Exhibition at the Museum of Photographic Arts until Feb 26, 2023

The 16th Annual Juried Youth Exhibition at MOPA for student K-12 has never disappointed me and gives me great hope for the future of the arts in San Diego/Tijuana.  Magic & Myth was a fun theme and you could see more and more of the works playing with computer technology. Some inspirations seem to come from dreams other from creative storytelling and others from the downright amazing world of magic. These are only 77 from the 700 entries and they hold up extremely well to the professional works in the Sony World Photography awards. This is obviously a large effort by the jurors and staff of MOPA, but we also need to applaud the teachers of these students and the parents who have such amazing kids.  

Mariana Rich Guilot,  age 17

Daniel Farcus, age 12

Chloe Lestyk,  age, 12

Keezhing Chang, age 18

Isaac Rodriguez, age 15

Emma Allen, age 11

Rhoslyn Azores, age 15? (Sorry, Rhoslyn, my photo missed your age!)

Sony World Photography Awards at Museum of Photographic Arts until April 16, 2023

This is a World Photography Organization exhibition and sponsored by Sony for the last 15 years. There are four entry areas Student, Youth, Open and Professional with a whole range of themes.  MOPA is the first venue in the United States to exhibit this work. If one of the goals of photography is to bring us all together, then seeing these images shows the variety of life that has been documented to in that pursuit.

Hanna Lisava

Ryan Rogers

Martin Broen

Vincente Ansola

Alnis Stakle

Ricardo Teles

Be Here Now at San Diego History Center ongoing

Be Here Now is an active demonstration of how to use the visual arts to learn about history.   The San Diego History Center (SDHC) has a large collection of fine art, remember they were founded in 1928!  All the art on display is owned by the history center and made by artist either born here or creating in our region. But this display looks at those works not with an eye on composition and color but as archival documents.  I was so impressed by the graphic display in back of these works, which also confirms that this is not art for art’s sake. Instead, they are asking questions, right on the walls in both English and Spanish, to try to get their audience to examine your own sense of place.

Nathan Harrison: Born a Slave, Died a Legend at San Diego History Center ongoing

I found Nathan Harrison’s life a performance art piece. He was either a freed or escaped slave, who managed to survive not only slavery, but the craziness of the Gold Rush. He married into an American Indian tribe but had to hide his literacy and play to a crowd who wanted to hear his stories of a black man in the wild west. He lived on Palomar Mountain from 1850 to 1920. This exhibition and the virtual documentation on the SDHC website, is fascinating because it shows the research that went into discovering this whole story. The replica stone slave cabin, along with a selection of artifacts is on display, but the layout of the show has the actual squares of digging with video projections of the archeological evidence of the dig.  The Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era…Harrison was able to manipulate all comers.

Nathan Harrison exibit

Our thanks to Leilani Alontaga-Caithness, Collections Specialist at the SD History Center for touring us through the underground archives of the center. This wonderful print by Martha Mathews was just one of the many splendors I viewed with Chi Essary and Lara Bullock. (Chi is the past SD Art Prize curator and passing that duty on this year to Lara) 

Chi Essary, Lara Bullock, Patricia Frischer, Leilani Alontaga-Caithness 

Lost in Translation: A Game of Telephone at the San Diego Public Library Art Gallery

 by Patricia Frischer

When I walked into this exhibition, I was certainly lost. This is not a one quick glance show, but one that takes some time and thought. It took me awhile to figure out that each ‘thread” started with a paragraph. The words were given anonymously to an artist who responded with an image. That image is then given to another writer who creates a small paragraph reaction to the visual art work. Those literary sentences are then sent to yet another artist who responds and so on.  Sometimes the end of the thread is an image, others times it is text. 

On the first sets of walls to the left as you enter, the images are not labeled next to the works causing some confusion. But once you understand the pattern of the show, you start to read and then look to the images for signs of the artists' interpretations. Then you look to the next set of words for inspiration from the images. 

On the long wall to the right it is easier to identify the artists and the writers as labels of the artists are next to their works. And often the artists added extra statements about how the words inspired their images.

Do note that the threads are not presented in order but are still titled numerically from zero to 6. The writers sometimes create text in more than one thread. And in one instance with Perry Vasquez, he is an artist on one thread and a writer on another. An added plus is that  the wall labels give you lots more information from the artists and the writers. 

Slow down sufficiently and you are rewarded with some very interesting juxtapositions of images and words.  Curator Chi Essary with Julia Dixon Evans, writer and KPBS/Arts Producer must have worked hard to keep this all straight. You have until April 15 to play this game yourself and there is a very nice catalog which helps immensely. If nothing else, this show proves as Chi Essary says in her forward, "...our view is not the only view."

Personally, this show reminded me of  the whispering game. The first person whispered into the second person's ear. As the statement goes down a long line of whispers and hearers, it is distorted into an entirely different message. This happens with hot breath and lots of giggles.  The first message is literally completely lost and when the last message is spoken out loud it often makes no sense at all, but you still have a wonderful time.  

Here is an extra quote from one of our favorite artists in this exhibition: I liked very much the writing I received so it was easy to respond with an image. And I liked the exhibition!  It was interesting for me to see the audience READING!!!! words and images.
Marianela de la Hoz

Note: For my own clarity I am showing these pictures below in the order they appear in the gallery and not in the catalog.  In the first two threads, I am adding just a very few words to give you a taste of the flow.. I have included some of the words by the artists as well.  My intent is to tempt you to see the show yourself, but any confusion caused might possibly be another layer of translation lost. 

Thread 6: Text Julia Dixon Evans - Let's feed your doll some of these nice weeds.

Alanna Airitam

Text: Ari Honarvar -  ...a baby ragdoll stitched from the ruins of the past

De la Torre Brothers - Our historical rewrite is complicated by the current absurd reading of the second amendment fueled by heavily processed food. 

Text: Patrick Coleman - ...that brick was once stone, was once soil...

Beliz Iristay - ....the writing also evokes a certain sensuality in me. 

Thread 2: text Corey Lynn Fayman - ...an audience of migratory swallows.

Animal Cracker Conspiracy - ...a stage or toy theater setting used within puppetry to bring the visual narrative to life. 

Text: Lily Hoang -....a bird symphony into a birdothon...

Lindy Ivey - I really love the idea of taking a step back and observing these conversations in nature take place.

Text:  Ryan Bradford -  "..it's,  like Cab Calloway or Benny Goodman or something."

Thread 1: text Marisa Crane

Marianella de la Hoz,

Text: Phil Beaumont

Guro Silva

Text:  Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

MR Barnadas

Thread 3: text Patrick Coleman

Jackie Dunn Smith

Text: Marisa Crane

John Purlia

Text:  Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi

Thread 0: text Kirsten Imani Kasai
 

Sheena Rae Dowling

Text: Corey Lynn Fayman

Alanna Airitam

Text: Max Feye

Thread 5: text Ryan Bradford

Hugo Crosthwaite

Text: Corey Lynn Fayman

Wick Alexander

Text: Kirsten Imani Kasai

Thread 4:  text Corey Lynn Fayman

Carlos Castro

Text: Miki Vale

Charles Glaubitz

Text: Lizz Huerta

Perry Vasquez

Featuring works by Alanna Airitam, Wick Alexander, Animal Cracker Conspiracy, MR Barnadas, Phil Beaumont, Ryan Bradford, Carlos Castro, Patrick Coleman, Marisa Crane, Hugo Crosthwaite, De la Torre Brothers, Sheena Rae Dowling, Julia Dixon Evans, Corey Lynn Fayman, Max Feye, Charles Glaubitz, Lily Hoang, Ari Honarvar, Marianella de la Hoz, Lizz Huerta, Beliz Iristay, Lindy Ivey, Kirsten Imani Kasai, Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi, John Purlia, Guro Silva, Jackie Dunn Smith, Miki Vale, and Perry Vasquez

Lost in Translation: A Game of Telephone San Diego Public Library Art Gallery
Feb 4 to April 15
330 Park Blvd, San Diego 92101
Gallery Hours: M-Tu: 1-7pm W-Sa: 12-5pm Closed Sunday
More info: Bonnie Domingos   619.238.6690

Aldo Chaparro: That elusive sentiment at Madison Gallery

by Patricia Frischer

Aldo Chaparro

Aldo Chaparro: That elusive sentiment at Madison Gallery 
Showing from Jan 28 end March 18

I was first attracted to view this exhibition because of the wonderful announcement card that was sent by email.  Later I was told, this was a scene from the artist Aldo Chaparro’s studio. When I arrived at Madison Gallery, I was expecting lavish color posts, but what I found was lots of color in quite different mediums for this artist who works in a great variety of materials. The stark white, black and gold shaped wood columns were minimalistic compared to a single highly colored sculpture on view. This pigment on that wood played with your eyes creating positive spaces from the white background walls. Close up you can see the grain of the wood and the cuts made to shape them, displaying a rich texture. Next to those works were draped and folded shiny metal works, actually made at the venue, as well as a mirrored installation, and various highly colored canvases of shapes.

I learned from Lorna York, the director of the Madison Gallery that Aldo Chaparro is a Mexican artist born in 1965 who divides his time between Mexico City, Monterrey, Lima, Madrid, Paris, and Southern California. He has an accomplished exhibition record and the illusive sentiment in the title of the show might refer to some hidden message, but I choose to simply look a the play of color and shape and how it often fools the eye. 

 

Aldo Chaparro

Aldo Chaparro

Here is a full explanation of the metal works from the gallery: Aldo Chaparro's sculptures made with bent steel are the result of his ongoing relationship with the material. Steel has been present in mankind since ancient times. However, the steel sheets used by Chaparro are characteristic of the industrial era. Their slimness, neatness and their reflective quality can only be achieved through machines, and because of that, the sculptures' violent nature creates great contrast with the nature of the sheets, as Chaparro kicks, bends, and jumps on them using nothing but his body and his own weight. The objects resulting of his confrontation with the material are the evidence, that on the same way criminalistics allow the reconstruction of a crime, portray the process that transformed the material into an artistic object. In this way, his bent steels can be interpreted as self-portraits as they capture the energy released by Chaparro on a specific date and time. As the mirroring accuracy on the steel sheets distorts itself, the sculptures function as goggles that allow us to experience reality on a parallel way. The mirror is then the transit from auto- erotism to the viewer's self- contemplation. They trigger our sense of exploration so sight can transform into knowledge using the sculptures' surface as its theater. The eyes triumph over the sense of touch. The sculptures create reflections (on both senses) on several and very different ways. By their reflecting power, they transform the body in an alternate and untouchable version of ourselves. 

Aldo Chaparro

I was lucky to see two examples of painting by the Cuban artist Angel Ricardo Rios also born in 1965.  I was very drawn to these works with the aspects of drawing combined with a mastery of color brush work. They are powerful works with single color backgrounds. 

Angel Ricardo Rios

Angel Ricardo Rios

The next exhibition at Madison is  William Lachance: TIMESHARE starting  March 25 to June 3 2023. This show was cancelled from its previous December, 2022 launch date and is his 2^nd solo show in Solana Beach. These painted collages with their pop images are familiar and new at the same time. 

William Lachance

Aldo Chaparro: That elusive sentiment at Madison Gallery 
Showing from Jan 28 end March 18
320 S Cedros Ave suite 200, Solana Beach 92075
Regular Gallery Hours: Monday through Saturday, 11am-4pm
More info: Lorna York  (858) 523-9155 

William Lachance: TIMESHARE at Madison Gallery Started March 25 to June 3 2023
Angel Ricardo Rios: viewing by request