Half of An Adult Evening With Shel Silverstein - By N.L. Belardes
Back to Friday night. Don’t think I was just lurking downtown pondering the future of Pizza in downtown Bakersfield after Soulajar’s big performance. I soon headed over to the Empty Space Theatre over in the Oleander Arts Collective. It was the least I could do after my controversial blog on Drama Rama I wrote earlier on Saturday. After a minor run-in with an unsatisfactory evening a few months back I finally decided to give the Empty Space the chance it deserved.
I arrived a little early and saw director of the upcoming July 8-23 run of Closer, Roger Mathey coolly hanging outside. “Are you staying for the show?” I asked. He nodded and we greeted each other; then I took off over to Pizzaville and ordered some grub. Inside I saw several patrons arrive that I could tell were waiting for An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein directed by Joe Mitchell and Guinevere Park-Hall. I used to have a few Shel Silverstein books, but I lost those in a divorce more than ten years ago and haven’t read them since.
Back at The Empty Space I ran into one of the actresses from the Bakersfield Ninjas short film. She was shocked that I recognized her and that I had a permanent link on my website to the film… more on that in a future blog…
On the way to my seat I saw some cool local artwork...
Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) was a creative genius, a storyteller, cartoonist, and author of one-act plays with a sometimes abrasive content brimming with hilarity. An Adult Evening with Shel Silverstein are little vignettes, walking cartoons, playlets dripping with the poetic comic phrases of his genius that also include a few drier pieces.
Although this show’s running ended yesterday, I still think the show and The Empty Space deserve a serious blogging as it was a hilarious tour de force through some of Shel Silverstein’s finest.
The cartoony playlet, One Tennis Shoe, featuring Kamel Haddad’s comic concern over Cory Rickard’s bag lady transformation at a café table was my favorite episode of the night. The deadpan was right on, the costuming and props were hysterical as it took me a few minutes through the dialogue to realize that Cory’s character was indeed a bag lady in full denial of her identity. The slapstick was masterfully arranged which made for a difficult time taking photos because I was laughing so hard.
Bus Stop, featuring Sarah Downie, AKA Maid Marion from the Misadventures of Robin Hood sure did say a lot of potty words along with the purposely bumbling Pablo Reyes who Enrique Fuentes is still stirring over for his machismo in the same Robin Hood play. A vignette about Feminism meeting machismo head on, I thought it was hilarious until I realized that I hadn’t heard every variation of the word, “penis.” Then I just felt plain uneducated.
Blind Willie and the Talking Dog was so funny I once again had trouble taking photos. Here was Rebecca Lotze in a fluffy dog costume portraying an attitude-filled puppy who felt a sorrowful angst for the very hand that feeds her: a very kooky harmonica-playing blind man portrayed by Kevin Lively. Their argument over life was really Shel Silverstein’s comical way of communicating to us that other perspectives on life may not seem normal only because we haven’t taken the time to laugh along with those we stereotype, including man’s best friend who just may be loyal for reasons unsuspecting.
Going Once was a disturbing ode to humanity’s manufacturing of beauty. We see it all around us, in the cars we buy, the TV shows we watch, the high society clothes we wear, and so forth. Haddad’s parading around of the semi-nude Sarah Vara reminded me of the shallow nature of humanity that sells itself out for what? Exposure of each other based on aesthetic wants… ...disturbing but true.
The first half of the show ended with The Best Daddy, a cartoony view of a daddy’s torturing of his daughter’s innocence. I loved it. Reminded me of the Calvin and Hobbes where the dad tells Calvin the sun is the size of a quarter… and Calvin believes him. There’s an innocence in how a child believes the parent is the gospel of truth. It doesn’t last long, but when it’s there, and children think a parent can explain who they are, where they are going, and where they came from, as well as the size, dimensions and chemical make-up of the sun… well tell them what you know while you can. Sarah Taylor’s innocent face and near tantrum moments were just as fun as Ronnie Hargrave’s portrayal of the victimizing daddy.
I wish I had stayed for the rest of the show, but unfortunately there was an intermission, which meant I could sneak out, go home, and finally sleep…
I arrived a little early and saw director of the upcoming July 8-23 run of Closer, Roger Mathey coolly hanging outside. “Are you staying for the show?” I asked. He nodded and we greeted each other; then I took off over to Pizzaville and ordered some grub. Inside I saw several patrons arrive that I could tell were waiting for An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein directed by Joe Mitchell and Guinevere Park-Hall. I used to have a few Shel Silverstein books, but I lost those in a divorce more than ten years ago and haven’t read them since.
Back at The Empty Space I ran into one of the actresses from the Bakersfield Ninjas short film. She was shocked that I recognized her and that I had a permanent link on my website to the film… more on that in a future blog…
On the way to my seat I saw some cool local artwork...
Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) was a creative genius, a storyteller, cartoonist, and author of one-act plays with a sometimes abrasive content brimming with hilarity. An Adult Evening with Shel Silverstein are little vignettes, walking cartoons, playlets dripping with the poetic comic phrases of his genius that also include a few drier pieces.
Although this show’s running ended yesterday, I still think the show and The Empty Space deserve a serious blogging as it was a hilarious tour de force through some of Shel Silverstein’s finest.
The cartoony playlet, One Tennis Shoe, featuring Kamel Haddad’s comic concern over Cory Rickard’s bag lady transformation at a café table was my favorite episode of the night. The deadpan was right on, the costuming and props were hysterical as it took me a few minutes through the dialogue to realize that Cory’s character was indeed a bag lady in full denial of her identity. The slapstick was masterfully arranged which made for a difficult time taking photos because I was laughing so hard.
Bus Stop, featuring Sarah Downie, AKA Maid Marion from the Misadventures of Robin Hood sure did say a lot of potty words along with the purposely bumbling Pablo Reyes who Enrique Fuentes is still stirring over for his machismo in the same Robin Hood play. A vignette about Feminism meeting machismo head on, I thought it was hilarious until I realized that I hadn’t heard every variation of the word, “penis.” Then I just felt plain uneducated.
Blind Willie and the Talking Dog was so funny I once again had trouble taking photos. Here was Rebecca Lotze in a fluffy dog costume portraying an attitude-filled puppy who felt a sorrowful angst for the very hand that feeds her: a very kooky harmonica-playing blind man portrayed by Kevin Lively. Their argument over life was really Shel Silverstein’s comical way of communicating to us that other perspectives on life may not seem normal only because we haven’t taken the time to laugh along with those we stereotype, including man’s best friend who just may be loyal for reasons unsuspecting.
Going Once was a disturbing ode to humanity’s manufacturing of beauty. We see it all around us, in the cars we buy, the TV shows we watch, the high society clothes we wear, and so forth. Haddad’s parading around of the semi-nude Sarah Vara reminded me of the shallow nature of humanity that sells itself out for what? Exposure of each other based on aesthetic wants… ...disturbing but true.
The first half of the show ended with The Best Daddy, a cartoony view of a daddy’s torturing of his daughter’s innocence. I loved it. Reminded me of the Calvin and Hobbes where the dad tells Calvin the sun is the size of a quarter… and Calvin believes him. There’s an innocence in how a child believes the parent is the gospel of truth. It doesn’t last long, but when it’s there, and children think a parent can explain who they are, where they are going, and where they came from, as well as the size, dimensions and chemical make-up of the sun… well tell them what you know while you can. Sarah Taylor’s innocent face and near tantrum moments were just as fun as Ronnie Hargrave’s portrayal of the victimizing daddy.
I wish I had stayed for the rest of the show, but unfortunately there was an intermission, which meant I could sneak out, go home, and finally sleep…
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Sunday, June 26, 2005.
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