Leave your brain behind

Steve’s mom calls it in
by Steve Dunkelberger
Jan 31, 2008

I became double booked this weekend when my daughter found herself at a tae kwon do match that landed her one step closer to being allowed to date. She has to have a black belt, and she just received her white belt with a green stripe. She has awhile, but I still find myself wondering why I didn’t set the bar higher.

Anyway, the all-day tournament threw off my calendar, so I couldn’t see a show this weekend. Fear not. This all works out in the end.

You see, my mom is a grand pooh-bah of the Washington Chapter of the American Association of University Women. The group promotes all things related to chick learning or equity in education or something like that. Anyway, the group was meeting in Olympia last weekend, so she took in a show on my behalf. I may be middle aged, but I’m still her baby boy.

She went to Capital Playhouse for its opening weekend performances of “6 Women with Brain Death: or Expiring Minds Want to Know.”

The show is a buffet of musical vignettes about life from the female perspective. The gaggle of hens deals with everything from press-on nails and gravity to relationships and all things liberal.

Here are her thoughts on the show.

“It was irreverent to say the least,” she reports, noting a little ditty in the show where the actresses sing about God being an alien.

But then there are the little tabloid bits about wacky headlines from the National Expirer, a play on words from the Enquirer to denote death. There was also a fair amount of potty-mouth during the show, but it was apparently all in good fun.

“It was definitely an adult play,” my aging mother says of the cursing. “But it wasn’t that much. It was funny. It was not just swear word after swear word. It was just joke after joke; the plot was not that deep.”

Standouts of the show were Capital Playhouse veterans Melissa Backstrom and Heidi Fredericks, but the balance of the cast held their own until the curtain fell.

“It looked like they were having fun,” she says.

The show runs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday through Feb. 16. Tickets are $27 to $33 for adults, $21 to $27 for seniors and children. Capital Playhouse is located at 612 E.  Fourth Ave. in Olympia. More information is available by calling (360) 943-2744 or by visiting www.capitalplayhouse.com.

For a show of a different vein, try “Uncommon Mozart,” which is in the works at Tacoma Opera as part of its sixth annual Young Artist Showcase. The show promises to provide a look at the boy genius in a way the history books never did. The first half of the show will be a staging of Mozart’s one-act comedy “The Impresario,” the story about a producer struggling to keep his opera company afloat. This staging has the show set in 1930s Manhattan. The second half of the show has the actors of the show performing excerpts from some of Mozart’s more unusual works, including “Lucio Silla,” “La Finta Semplice,” and “Zaide.” The show is running for two performances only in the 302-seat Theatre on the Square in Tacoma. The show is sung in English, Italian, and German. Performances will be held at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 3. Theatre on the Square is located at 915 Broadway. Tickets are $30 and available by calling Tacoma Opera at (253) 627-7789, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts at (253) 591-5894, or by visiting www.tacomaopera.com.

User comments

submitted 02:55 on Jul 23, 2008 by Scott Taylor

Hi, Heidi, it's Scott. You should get a hold of me. Check out my band on myspace at thehardwayrocks, you can hear some of what I've been up to. I'd really like to see you soon. Our tour starts August 16th in Oly at the Voyeur, remember that place? Lemmie know if you think you might make it. Like I said, check out our itinerary on thehardwayrocks and you'll see what's up. I've been writing a lot of songs. You need to hear them. Beatles, Posies, and all the best is what it sounds like. I really need some old friends right now. Let's get together sometime. Get back to me... --Scott

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