FAST AND FURIOUS / DOWN AND DIRTY

Fast and Furious is a new program that supports the evolution of projects and collaborations not possible under the constraints of our Main Stage programming.

F2D2 allows adventurous artists and audiences to explore a variety of works: everyday life and cultural performance, stage adaptations of texts and other materials, and the avant-garde and performance art.

Through Fast and Furious, we seek to: present audiences with high-quality work that entertains, challenges, and stimulates; provide a venue and support Whidbey Island artists who create this work; provide workshops for diverse audiences and aspiring local artists to encourage the growth and continued health of the local performing arts community; create experiences that solidifies Whidbey Island as a performing arts destination.

Proceeds from F2D2 performances will fund the lighting and sound equipment needed to finish Zech Hall.



UPCOMING SHOWS.



"Zelda is about the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Zelda possessed a brilliant, schizophrenic mind. She was exciting, original, witty, talented, tormented. And her life was not all tragedy. That was the public cliché, the legend not the reality. Even though she was confined to institutions, her dignity held and there was a kind of heroism in her. No self pity, no wistful yearnings for lost Utopias. She was a lady with pride and guts.” -- William Luce, playwright

“Zelda Fitzgerald is best known as the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, the quintessential novelist of the Jazz Age, the Roaring Twenties. At his side, she was the toast of the two continents, a model for the ocean-crossing Flapper of the day. Much of Zelda’s life was appropriated by Scott for his fiction, but her full story, particularly her own artistic ambitions and expressions, is not widely known.

Zelda’s life was complex and compelling. Her aspiration to independence and creativity-expressed  in dance, in writing and especially in painting -- and her agreement to subordinate her claim to her own autobiographical material to her husband, have made her almost a cult figure in the feminist movement.  Zelda’s long battle with mental illness makes her story even more poignant.” -- Eleanor Lanahan, (Zelda’s Granddaughter) “Zelda An Illustrated Life”

Here's a clip of Denise as Zelda.

THE ARTIST.

Denise Paulette has been involved in acting all of her adult life. After receiving her B.A. in drama from the University of Washington, she moved to Los Angeles, CA. There she was involved in two theatre companies:  Ed Begley, Jr. Theatre and Dynarski Theatre. Upon returning to Seattle she has performed in commercials, independent features, voice over and theatre. She has also taught international dance to young girls at Seattle's Broadway Bound Children’s Theatre.

Zelda has been a labor of love and passion for Denise since 2007 when her friend, Jayne Ross, lent her a pile of scripts to consider for production. Working with the seasoned and insightful Vince Balestri, she has taken an incredible journey into the extraordinary, timeless world of Zelda Fitzgerald. It is Denise’s goal to share the life of this complicated lesser known Fitzgerald with as many audiences as possible so that they may experience as she has the artistry, love and humanity of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald.





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Want to get dirty?

Please contact Deana Duncan, Production Director for info.



PAST SHOWS.



Chris Spencer's Short Story Smash is an opportunity for local writers to have their short, short stories read in public for glory, fame and prizes.

There are some special rules and requirements to participate in this event.

1. All short stories must be 100 words exactly; not 99 or less or 101 plus. Violators will be publicly humiliated.

2. Submissions must be sent ASAP and no later than April 07, 2011 to my e-mail cspencer@whidbey.com so they can be printed and rehearsed prior to public reading.

3. Short stories will be presented by readers with English language skills, sublime elocution and no deep-rooted fear of public speaking.

4. After all the readings are completed, the audience will vote. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places.

Honors, accolades and glory will follow and maybe refreshments.

THE ARTISTS.

Chris Spencer writes, "The humorous short story is my genre, but no one takes my work seriously. I tried working for world peace, but preferred napping. I have thought about researching a cure for cancer, but chose instead to cut coupons. A pseudo-lucubratist, I pound a typewriter without risk of publishing, fabricating giggles at 2 am, tears by noon."

Shelley Hartle has been an actor on Whidbey for the past 25 years. Her work includes major roles in Crimes of the Heart, Agnes of God, Sea Marks, love is a place, Hamlet, Moon Over Buffalo, and The School for Scandal, to name a few. In Seattle, she appeared at the Northwest Actor’s Studio in Miss Julie. And just two years ago, she toured western Ireland with the two Langley Marthas (Furey and Murphy), performing Talking With in Cork, Listowel and Lismore. Hartle has also narrated for the Seattle Peace Chorus and for Moving Images films. Over the years, she’s worked on the other side of the footlights as musical director/stage director for Island Theater, Whidbey Children’s Theater, and individual playwrights. It’s a pleasure to be part of a community that doesn’t just support, but actually celebrates the arts. You are all very much appreciated.



The Potent Toddy takes a deeper look (a la Edward Gorey) at what it means to be human.

When the deranged Frog appeals to Salamander for help, Salamander is unsure of what to do. He must save this poor woman, but at what cost to himself? Salamander finds it hard to reconcile with Frog's insanity, and flees. But with some prompting, Salamander defends Frog's position and finds that he has grown quite fond of her. Frog grows more mad by the day, but Salamander can see through it and grows to love Frog, even with her madness.

Kamiak High School's Dramafest Award winner for Best Costumes, Best Ensemble Performance, and Best Student Written Show.

Check out The Potent Toddy on WICA's YouTube channel.

THE ARTISTS.

Kevin Ryan
Penka Jane Culevski
David Droz
Chloe Luedtke




The Stronger is a short, one-act play written by August Strinberg in 1890. There are two characters known only as Mme. X and Mlle. Y.

"The two women meet in a cafe on Christmas Eve. They talk, or in fact Mme. X talks and Mlle. Y silently sits by and listens. The dynamic of this conversation as one speaks and the other is silent, leads the audience into contemplative thought about who really is the 'stronger.'

This is the first play I directed while an undergraduate at WSU. I was intrigued by the possible approaches the actors and director could take. Who is the "stronger?" The person speaking or the person who sits by and allows the other to speak.

The conversation covers the topics of infidelity, trust and truth. Even though Mlle. Y never speaks, she says a lot through her non verbal responses. "The Stronger" is not about plot or character but more about communication and how we draw meaning out of what is said, verbally and non-verbally."
-- Ann Deacon

THE ARTISTS.

Ann Deacon (Director)
Morgan Bondelid (Mlle. Y)
Judith Dankanics (Mme. X)




CHEMISTRY
A NEW PLAY BY MAX COLE-TAKANIKOS & KATIE WOODZICK

A woman sits for a portrait while an artist creates several of her permutations. Chemistry is an exploration of art and science, X and Y chromosomes and the possibility of distilling human relationships into a theoretical chemical equation.

"Max is one of the first people I met when I moved to the island in the fall of 2007. We became fast friends and frequent collaborators.

Many times the two of us have been driving down 525 and thought something along the lines of '...this conversation could totally be in an indie movie we would like.' So, we put the challenge to ourselves to get some of our diaolgue on paper. What emerged is bittersweet, caustic, romantic and hopefully thought-provoking.

Join us as we contemplate the relationships between art and science, men and women and pay homage to some of our favorites: Carl Sagan, Fellini, Chekhov, and 'The Little Mermaid,' to name a few." -- Katie Woodzick

THE ARTISTS.

Max Cole-Takanikos
Katie Woodzick .




GOING HOME: TWO ONE-ACTS

Washington Slept Here
Written and Performed by Shelley Hartle

Hometowns that are located in country settings are often described as idyllic, and sometimes they actually are. Hartle’s was a mixed bag, and it all comes spilling out in her 30-minute commentary on life in the tiny rural community of Marble in western Pennsylvania. How it got that name and how its people lived together, not always in harmony, is the subject of this trippy 1950s memoir.

Covering 10 years, it’s a testament to immigrant know-how, the ability to adapt, and sometimes just plain desperation. From dodging the tactics of Benedictine nuns to deconstructing her first kiss, Hartle tells all in this joy ride of a chronicle -- a celebration of life, love, and retribution on the bumpy road toward adolescence.

The Passing of Two-sewer Charlie
Written and Performed by Ed Cornachio

“I grew up in a small section of Brooklyn called Bensonhurst. It was mostly Italian, mostly middle class -- hard working people, many of whom were still recovering from the great depression of the thirties. That's where I played Kick-the-Can, and Ring-O-Levio, and stickball in the streets, where girls jumped rope and played Potsy on the sidewalk. It was a time when kids were still allowed to be kids. All this before the advent of television, or computers, or cell phones. Radio was the primary source of indoor entertainment. -- that and table games like Pick-Up-Sticks, Monopoly, and pinochle. You called on friends and family by ringing their doorbell. Nobody I knew had a telephone. Telephones didn't make it into the family budget.

Those were simpler times. Some say, "better times." I've written several stories of those days, days of tears and laughter, growing up in an Italian family. One of those stories I call, The Passing of Two-sewer Charlie. The year is 1944, and World War II is still raging. We're fighting the Germans in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific. I'm fighting the onset of puberty on Bay 40th. Street in Brooklyn, NY." -- Ed Cornachio