Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2008)
Clackamas Print Art Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 ulture 5 Quilters’ tells of pioneer women’s lives ess Sheppard ie Clackamas Print ver think a story could be told in quilts? can, and the theatrical production getting ready to open at <amas docs just that. Quilters” is a women’s show, written by women and per- ed by gvomen. t’sarwman’s life in quilts,’’saidJayne Stevens,Clackamas’s t in Residence and an actress in the production. he performance opens with a mother on her deathbed, sur fed by her daughters, and goes on to tell the tale of life - not ie mother s life or those of the daughters, but life itself. The : and musical numbers help to convey a story that Theatre tor D®vid Smith-English describes as “very episodic.” ie show “uses quilts as a metaphor for the social structure nj®vomen,” Smith-English said. Liilting wasn’t just a hobby done for fun in the pioneer days. “You were bom, and you were wrapped in a quilt,” Smith- English said. “You would quilt with your mother. Quilts would be part of your dowry. This was something that women did as a community that would hold them together.” While the plot is set such a long time ago, the issues and hardships faced by the characters in “Quilters” have changed very little over time. “We’ve got marriage. We’ve got a fire,” Smith-English said. “We have a hilarious scene where four women are about to get their periods.” Stevens said, “That would be different if a man wrote it It’s definitely a female perspective.” The music of “Quilters” proved to be a challenge for both Smith-English and the actresses, who play nearly a dozen parts each. “It’s very demanding stuff,” Smith-English said. Musical rehearsals had to begin three days before the sched uled acting rehearsals for fear that the production wouldn’t be ready in time for the first showing. The music in “Quilters” is different than that of many other musicals. The orchestra is on stage with the actresses, in costume. Orchestra members even have lines of their own. The band includes a violin, cello and bass, as well as a guitar played by Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Bill Briare. The music director and keyboardist for the show is Mike Van Liew. “The music is sophisticated and interesting,” Smith-English said. “This is not a typical musical.” The cast features Clackamas veterans such as Stevens, Heather Ovalle, Brianne Shewbert and Theatre Instructor Cyndy Smith-English It also includes the acting talents of Shannon McBride, Hannah Munsy, Kristina Poul and Beth Hungerford. “It’s a serious damn show,” Smith-English said. “Quilters” runs Feb. 28 through March 9. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday showings start at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 general admission and staff, $10 for students, as well as seniors who are at least 62 years of age, and $8 for children ages six to 12. To purchase tickets, call 503-657-6958, ext 2356, or e- mail Theatre Department Secretary Jennifer Schwartzman at Jens@clackamas.edu. VE: The all-women cast of “Quilters” sings about a corn-cob doll and shakes their pointer ers toward the audience at a special show for the board of education. iT: The teacher of the schoolhouse in “Quilters” lectures one of her students. inner pro-surfer shows more mature side after ‘Curious George’ Urea Simpson Clackamas Print ie highly anticipated fourth n from singer-songwrit- ck Johnson, titled “Sleep ugh ¿The Static,” was sed Feb. 5 and soon met mediocre reviews from zines such as Rolling Stone Spin, and online shopping ts like Amazon.com, hnson’s first two CDs had :ss underground, but it truly Bis third release, “In een Wreams,” that pushed ;o widely-celebrated fame, so churned out the popular soundtrack to the children’s e “Curious George.” leep Through The Static” produced by folk rock art- en Harper’s producer, JP er, who backed Johnson’s debut, “Brushfire •tales.” e album has been cred os having departed from on’slnormally beach-trip- wave-riding, mellow-yel- ound. In some ways, this ¡■oven true with the addition ino player Zach Gill, who i jazzier tone to the music, i other ways, I feel that ¡cording should have been called “In Between Dreams: the Zoloft Years.” Many of the songs have a sound that is similar to Johnson’s previous work but merely slowed down and com bined with more mature lyrics. The CD is ideal for listening while staring at the rain and contemplating life and rela tionships. It starts out with “All at Once” - an unusual way to open since the song begins with the extremely depressing lyr ics, “All at once/ The world can overwhelm me/ There’s almost nothing that you could tell me/ That could ease my mind.” These words set the undertone for the rest of the track list. The title track speaks of the Iraq War but comes out seeming like a jumble of metaphors and, overall, a bit overdone. It resembles a bunch of anti-war sentiments that were simply mashed together and set to a go-with-the-flow beat. I can, however, appreciate the political theme. “If I Had Eyes,” “What You Thought You Need” and “Go On” are more buoyant in nature. The drums and bongos stand out on the stripped-down acous tic record. It was nice, after a couple of downer songs, to hear a slightly quickened tempo. The ballad “Angel,” which consists of some of the CD’s most beautiful moments, speaks of the amazing transforming power of a smile or a kiss. This message is magnified by Johnson’s sooth ing voice. “Same Girl” has the same sentimental meaning. It starts off, “If you could read my mind/ You’d say, baby, you’re right/ And I don’t wanna fight any more/ You’re usually lighter than I am/ And I’m not a very good fighter/ And my, neither are you.” The other songs on the release tend to blend together with their low-key pace and forgettable lyrics. This album will be a favorite for true-blue Johnson groupies, but I don’t forsee it resulting in a ton of hits for pop radio. Although it lacks the feel-good Hawaiian rhythm that made “In Between Dreams” a favorite on the charts, it has the same unique formula to which fans are accus tomed.
