TOP THREE 'The Part in My Head' exhibit
A News and Tribune Publication
NOV. 6, 2014 — Issue 39
S stage
talents to IU s d n le er h et iw er M Acting legend Lee
STATE OF THE ARTS 'Gifted: 50 Artworks under $50' show
EVENT
Kirkin' o' the Tartans
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Nov. 6, 2014 Publisher Bill Hanson Editor Jason Thomas Design Claire Munn photography Ty l e r S t e w a r t
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On the Cover:
Miss America 1955 winner and the original Catwoman Lee Meriwether will perform as Queen Aggravain in IU Southeast Theatre Department’s rendition of “Once Upon a Mattress.” sTAFF PHOTO BY TYLER STEWART
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Screen, stage icon visits SoIn
For the second time in three weeks, a Miss America is gracing the cover of SoIn. You’re welcome. Today you have the pleasure of meeting 1955 Miss America and screen — big and small — and stage icon Lee Meriwether, better known as the original Catwoman in the “Batman” Jason Thomas, Editor franchise and Betty in the highly popular “Barnaby Jones” television show. At a spry 79, the Los Angeles native is gueststarring as Queen Aggravain in Indiana University Southeast’s production of “Once Upon A Mattress.” You can credit Jim Hesselman, director of the play, for bringing Meriwether to town for the second time. The two struck up a friendship 12 years ago when they both performed in a six-month bus tour of “Nunsense,” Elizabeth Beilman writes in
today’s cover story. Meriwether feeds off the energy of IUS’ young actors, benefiting from their youthful excitement. The feeling is reciprocal. Even while playing the fairy tale-like Queen Aggravain, Meriwether is serious business when it comes to preparing for the role — something that has rubbed off on her understudy, Mandi Hutchins. “One of the major things I have learned from her is discipline and commitment and dedication,” Hutchins told Beilman. You never know what you’ll find on stage or in art galleries or in museums and restaurants in Southern Indiana. Let this soak in: A legend of screen and stage is performing right in your backyard. It happens all the time in Southern Indiana. That’s a truth the original Catwoman can’t escape. — Jason Thomas is the editor of SoIn. He can be reached by phone at 812-206-2127 or email at jason. thomas@newsandtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ScoopThomas.
Forecastle Festival sets 2015 dates What: Forecastle Festival When: July 17-19 Where: Waterfront Park, Louisville
Info: ForecastleFest.com LOUISVILLE — Coming off the heels of a banner year in 2014, drawing more than 60,000 attendees with headliners including Outkast, Jack White, and Beck, The Forecastle Festival has announced dates for 2015. The event will take place July 1719 at Louisville’s Waterfront Park, celebrating the best in music, art and environmental activism. Exclusive fan hotel rates for the festival weekend are available now. Visit ForecastleFest.com for a full list of pricing and locations. A special holiday pre-sale will also be offered in 2014 with full details coming soon. Stay tuned to ForecastleFest.com, follow the festival on Facebook
and Twitter, and sign up for the Forecastle newsletter to get the latest news and updates for 2015, including the full lineup coming soon after the New Year. Forecastle is held at Louisville’s scenic, 85-acre Waterfront Park. Since 2002, the Festival has featured musical guests including Outkast, The Black Keys, Jack White, Beck, My Morning Jacket, String Cheese Incident, Bassnectar, Wilco, The Flaming Lips, The Smashing Pumpkins, Widespread Panic, The Avett Brothers, Pretty Lights, Sleigh Bells, Spoon, DEVO, Band of Horses, She & Him, Big Boi, Girl Talk, A-Trak, SleaterKinney, Umphrey’s McGee and many more. The festival also highlights the best of bourbon country with the Bourbon Lodge, an interactive experience more featuring more than 10,000 square feet of bourbon-focused activities and tastings.
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Nov. 6, 2014
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This Boy Can Laugh What: Kent Epler 'The Party in My Head' exhibit
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; noon to 4 p.m. Saturday Where: The Arts Council of Southern Indiana, 825 E. Market St., New Albany Epler, who specializes in soft sculpture created from recycled and repurposed materials, is the imagination behind The Laughing Boy, his New Albany studio, and the creator of immensely popular mixed-media sculptures. He loves meeting people at shows and seeing customers flock into shops to see his characters. “Put one in the window and the store is full!” he says.
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3 To Go
Brave souls
What: Overnight stay at Culbertson Mansion When: 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday Where: Culbertson Mansion Reservations required, $100 per adult, 812-9449600 Spend the night at Culbertson Mansion ... if you dare. Brave guests will enjoy a candlelight dinner, tarot card readings, a ghost tour of the mansion, and a scavenger hunt before attempting to make it through the night. Must be over 18 to attend.
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FUN IN THE HAY
What: Clarksville’s annual Fall Harvest Hayride When: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 Where: Lapping Park Visitors will park at Clarksville’s Wooded View Gold Course, and then take a tractordrawn hayride through the park ending at Endris Lodge. Visitors can warm up by a bonfire and enjoy songs from campfire singers Cameron and Molly. Entertainment for the kids including games, crafts, face painting and wiggle cars.
Gotta Go: Interested in seeing your event in our 3 To Go?
Email SoIn Editor Jason Thomas at jason.thomas@newsandtribune.com
Sound of the Tartans Paul’s, along with the Scottish Snintht.Society of Louisville, hosts its annual Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans
What: St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church ninth Annual Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans When: 10 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 9 Where: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1015 E. Main St. New Albany
to celebrate the Feast of Samuel Seabury, first bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church in 1784. A piper and drummer herald the entrance of the clans into the sanctuary. During the regular service of Holy Communion, The Beadle pronounces a special blessing of the clans. A Scottish style luncheon will be served after the service. Why do we celebrate clans and tartans? The American Episcopal Church got its start after the Revolutionary War with help from the Scottish Episcopal Church. With its ties to the Church of England broken, The Episcopal church needed the Scottish bishops to pass the apostolic ordination to its American bishops. So on Nov. 14, 1784, The Rev. Samuel Seabury was made a bishop in Aberdeen, Scotland. Clans demonstrated true brotherhood and the clan was the family. The tartan is a symbol of this love and togetherness. In St. Paul’s Kirkin’ service, we remember ancient times, as well as past and present kith and kin, while asking God’s help and blessings in the future.
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PLAYBILL Robinson Theater IU Southeast
Screen icon Lee Meriwether graces IU Southeast stage By ELIZABETH BEILMAN elizabeth.beilman@newsandtribune.com ost know her as the 1955 winner of the Miss America competition, or better yet as the original Catwoman. But to the audiences of Indiana University Southeast’s rendition of “Once Upon A Mattress,” Lee Meriwether is the spoiled rotten Queen Aggravain. “She’s fun to play because she’s slightly evil,” Meriwether said of her character in the musical retelling of the fairytale “The Princess and the Pea.” The IU Southeast Theatre Department snagged the 79-year-old actress for the role through Jim Hesselman, director of the play and associate professor of theater. The two met 12 years ago when they both performed in a six-month bus tour of “Nunsense.” “I can’t say no to him,” Meriwether joked. This is not her first visit to the IU Southeast Theater Department — Meriwether helped write “The Women of Spoon River: Their Voices from the Hill” and attended the department’s production of “Equus.” Performances of “Once Upon A Mattress” are in the Robinson Theater at the Paul. W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center on IU Southeast’s
lights, sound, action!
What: ‘once upon a Mattress’ Where: robinson theater of the Paul W. ogle cultural and community center, indiana university southeast, 4201 grant line road, new albany When: 8 p.m. today through saturday; 2:30 p.m. sunday tickets: call 812-941-2526 or visit oglecenter.com Based upon the hans christian anderson fairy tale, “the Princess and the Pea” with music by Mary ridges (daughter of richard rodgers, one-half of the musical theater duo of rodgers & hammerstein), lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay thompson, dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer.
campus through Nov. 9. What’s also brought Meriwether back is her love of Southern Indiana and the thrill of working with young and aspiring actors. “Their excitement, their energy is wonderful,” she said. “Sometimes when you work with older actors, they’ve been there, done that. This is energy here. This is vitality. This is excitement.” Hesselman said that Meriwether has been a role model for his students. see PLAY, Page 8
Miss America 1955 winner and the original Catwoman Lee Meri perform as Queen Aggravain in IU Southeast Theatre Departme “Once Upon a Mattress.” The show begins today and will run thr staFF Phot
iwether will ent’s rendition of rough the weekend. to BY tYler steWart
matter what happens, follow your “Nodream. If you’ve got a dream and somehow it doesn’t happen, don’t worry about it. Keep trying.
”
— Lee Meriwether
6 Entertainment
Nov. 6, 2014
Movies: Nov. 7
é “Interstellar”
“Big Hero 6” “Jessabelle”
faces and places
I
f you haven’t taken advantage What: Free Family Fun of these wonderful offerings Workshop: Collages of at the Carnegie Center for Art Faces and Places and History in New Albany, then When: 10 a.m. to noon you’ve been missing out. Saturday, Nov. 8 The Carnegie Center Family Where: Carnegie CenFun Workshops have been a ter for Art and History, great success and these drop-in 201 E. Spring St., New classes in the lower level are the Albany perfect way for families to spend Info: Registration is Saturday morning together. required and is on a firstAll ages have a chance to look come, first-served basis. around the galleries and are led Participants should arrive by Carnegie staff and volunteers no later than 11:30 am. as they create art related to the Children must be accomexhibits or an upcoming holiday. panied by an adult. Call Every day we see faces and places that make up our life. At 812-944-7336 to register. this workshop, participants will look at both things with a different perspective by separating faces from their usual places and inserting them in a collage of new surroundings. Each collection of images cut from magazines and photographs will both illustrate the view of the artist and hint at future possibilities. Adults need to bring a magazine to cut up, and family photos (or copies), for each child. First, you will cut out the items you will use in your collage. You can cut them from magazines, newspapers, books, and photographs of people and places you know. Without glue, arrange the items you cut out in the way you want them to appear in your finished collage. Use a brush to apply the smallest amount of glue that will hold your items onto the background paper. When your collage is finished, allow it to dry thoroughly; then enjoy it. Families are encouraged to visit the center’s new exhibit: “Earth-Tones: Art Quilts” by Penny Sisto, before or after the workshop; Sisto’s quilts also feature faces and places. This drop-in workshop is free and open to the first 60 participants, suggested ages 2 to 12. The Family Fun Workshops are sponsored by the Carnegie Center, Inc.
ALBUMS: Nov. 11
é “Man Against Machine” by
Garth Brooks
“Non-Fiction” by Ne-Yo
books: Nov. 11
é “Revival” by Stephen King
“The Art of Asking” by Amanda Palmer
Quality art at a fair price What: ‘Gifted: 50 Artworks under $50’
When: Nov. 13 to Nov.
30; opening reception: Thursday, Nov. 13, 6 to 9 p.m. Where: Gadabout Gallery and Artisan Shoppe, 249 Spring St., Jeffersonville The artists represented in Gadabout Gallery and Artisan Shoppe are gifted with amazing talent. The gallery wants to share their talent and provide you an opportunity to find the perfect holiday gift. Support local talent as you pick out something unique from a collaborative show titled, “Gifted: 50 Artworks under $50.” From photography to jewelry, paintings, prints, woodworking, millenary, pottery, glass, furniture and more — it will be a French parlor style show filling the back gallery space from floor to ceiling with artworks brought to you by the entire gallery membership. Special handmade prints by the Jeffersonville Arts Alliance will also be available with all proceeds of each print going
back to the JAA for Community Art Events in Jeffersonville. Whatever art medium you fancy most, you are most sure to
find it at “Gifted: 50 Artworks under $50.” Find your perfect gift this season at Gadabout Gallery and Artisan Shoppe.
Nov. 6, 2014
Local SoIn Happenings Feeling left out? Send your establishment’s and/or organization’s upcoming events/new features/entertainment information to SoIn Editor Jason Thomas at jason.thomas@newsandtribune. com
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Kelly Amy, Kim McCauley, Susan West and Todd Nally General Admission $10; children 6-12, $6; under 6, free. For reservations, directions or any other information call 812-738-1130. [www.corydonjamboree.com]
Wine event at Bristol Jeffersonville
Live on State at Wick’s
Where: Wick’s Pizza Parlor, 225 State St., New Albany When: Friday and Saturday Friday: 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., Old School; Saturday: 10 p.m., Gas Money [wickspizza.com]
Live music at Big Four Burgers + Beer
Where: Big Four Burgers + Beer, 134 Spring St., Jeffersonville When: Friday and Saturday Friday: The Strays; Saturday: Bobby Wilson
Live music at Charlie Nobel’s
Where: Charlie Nobel’s Eatery + Draught House, 7815 Ind. 311, Sellersburg Friday: Kyle Hastings; Saturday: Aquila
Live music at the Brick Wall
Where: Brick Wall Restaurant, 1116 Copperfield Drive, Georgetown, all shows 6-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7: Bomar & Ritter; Saturday, Nov. 8: Uhl & Roberts; Sat., Nov. 15: Lick Creek Band
Live music at Hoopsters
Where: Hoopsters Bar and Grille, 830 E. 10th St., Jeffersonville Saturday, Nov. 8: Mad Alice; Saturday, Nov. 15: The Habit; Saturday, Nov. 22: Willis Tucker Band
Corydon Jamboree
Where: 220 Hurst Lane, Corydon
What: Tasting six of The Furst wines from one of France’s finest grape-growing areas When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3 Where: Bristol Bar and Grille, 700 W. Riverside Drive, Jeffersonville Cost: $55; call 812-218-1995 A five-course French-inspired meal created by executive chef Richard Doering will complement the wines. The restaurant will also host wine and imports expert Giampaolo Cherubin as part of the event. Cherubin will discuss flavor profiles of each glass grown and bottled along the foot of the Vosges mountain range in the Alsace region of France which are regularly reviewed and highly rated by Wine Spectator and other industry publications.
New Brown-Forman Bourbon Debut
When: 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11 Where: Varanese Restaurant, 2106 Frankfort Ave., Louisville Cost: $55/person; reservations are required, call 502-899-9904 or email letsdine@varanese.com. Varanese Restaurant will host the "Brown-Forman Bourbon Dinner.” A reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the dinner at 7 p.m. The evening will feature the debut of Old Forester 1870 Original Batch, special guest speaker and Master Taster for Brown-Forman Marianne Barnes, and a fourcourse dinner paired with a bourbon flight and Brown-Forman bourbon cocktails.
Entertainment 7
A call for short stories he Arts Council of St. Paul’s Tis calling Episcopal Church in New Albany for the submission of short
content for Parlor Stories at St. Paul’s When: Deadline is Nov. 15 Where: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1015 E. Main St., New Albany
stories for the Jan. 18 edition of Parlor Stories. Parlor Stories is a literary and performing arts series bringing together local actors, storytellers, and authors reading great literature. The series is inspired by Stories on Stage in Denver, Arts & Letters Live in Dallas, and Selected Shorts in New York City. Each performance of Parlor Stories has a unifying theme presented through several stories. The stories are sometimes classic, sometimes new; performed by great actors or story-tellers from Kentuckiana who bring these short stories to life. Parlor Stories takes place at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18. The show is presented in two acts with an intermission. There is no charge, but donations are accepted to help with local outreach ministries of St. Paul’s. The theme for the January show is “Free to be.” Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19, St. Paul’s is looking for stories that explore personal freedom in whatever form that takes. We are asking that the stories be between five and 10 minutes long when read. Please let St. Paul’s know if you would like to read your own story or have an actor read it if selected. Submissions must be received by Nov. 15. You may email them to rkautz@stpaulna.org or mail them to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1015 E. Main St., New Albany, IN 47150. The Arts Council Board will select the short stories to be read.
Holiday Fashion Wednesdays
When: 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday Where: Varanese Restaurant, 2106 Frankfort Ave., Louisville Cost: Reservations are recommended, call 502-8999904 or email letsdine@varanese.com Info: varanese.com Varanese will partner with several local boutiques to host Holiday Runway Wednesdays every Wednesday in November beginning at 6:30 p.m. Guests will enjoy a tableside fashion show featuring one-of-akind holiday ensembles and accessories, as well as half price bottles of wine, and live jazz music during each of the four shows. The Nov. 12 event will feature looks from Cache, and Nov. 19 and 26 will feature looks from Boutique Serendipity.
What: Seeking
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8 SoIn
Nov. 6, 2014
Meet Lee Meriwether
Archivists will continually remind you that Lee was successively: Miss San Francisco, Miss California and Miss America. And though most know Lee as “Betty” in the highly successful CBS series,” Barnaby Jones,” where she co-starred opposite Buddy Ebsen for eight years, and was nominated for both the Golden Globe and the Emmy for her work on that show, Lee has had starring or recurring roles in no less than nine different series, ranging from the first women’s editor with Dave Garroway on the original “Today Show” on NBC to her three year run as Lily on “The Munsters Today” for Universal. Some of Lee’s successful series include: “Time Tunnel,” “The New Andy Griffith Show,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The F.B.I.,” “12 O’Clock High” and “Dr. Kildare.” Lee was born in Los Angeles and after her brother Don was born three years later, the family moved to Phoenix. As she was about to enter the fifth grade, her father was transferred to San Francisco. Her memories of childhood are happy ones. She had the usual teenage frustrations but was encouraged to pursue acting while attending George Washington High School along with another young and talented student that fame would touch — Johnny Mathis. Johnny fondly remembers Lee as the girl he never saw without her hair in rollers. Following her year’s reign as Miss America, Lee joined “The Today Show.” This experience afforded her the opportunity to use her pageant scholarships to study acting with the famed teacher Lee Strasburg, as well as dancing, singing, and fencing with some of the top coaches in New York. Lee’s beginnings in the entertainment industry include her first TV role — “The Philco Television Playhouse” with Mary Astor, her first motion picture lead — “The 4-D Man” with Robert Lansing, and her first professional stage appearance — “Hatful of Rain” with William Smithers and Lou Antonio. Her noteworthy film roles include “Catwoman” in the original Batman movie. She also portrayed Andy Griffith’s pregnant wife in “Angel in My Pocket,” as well as Rock Hudson’s southern wife in “The Undefeated.” Live theater, however, continues to be Lee’s first love. Attesting to that fact is her long association with Theatre West, a professional actors’ workshop in Hollywood. Of the countless appearances she made at T.W., three stand out in her memory: “Spoon River” Anthology with Betty Garrett, “Aesop in Central Park” with Richard Dreyfuss and “Ladies of Hanover Towers” with Carroll O’Connor. Lee” also loves working with her daughters,
Miss America 1955 winner Lee Meriwether will perform as Queen Aggravain in IU Southeast Theatre Department’s rendition of “Once Upon a Mattress.” Photo: Iu southeast Theatre department
PLAY: Meriwether feels most at home onstage
PHOTOs: leemeriwether.com Kyle Oldham and Lesley Aletter. Lee’s favorite role? That of grandma! Kyle gave birth to daughter Ryan in December 1993. Grandma Lee is always available and eager to take her shopping or to the movies, etc. If she can get her away from Auntie Lesley, that is. Even when she’s on stage, in front of a camera, or family outings Lee can always be counted on to have several other activities going on simultaneously. She is active with a number of humanitarian endeavors and charities. — Excerpt from leemeriwether.com
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 “They’ve learned so much from her — just how she rehearses, just being on time, just having the right attitude,” he said. “Everything.” Mandi Hutchins is Meriwether’s understudy for the role of Queen Aggravain, an experience that Hutchins calls “mind blowing.” “It’s just been an honor,” said Hutchins, whose husband is a German Studies professor at IU Southeast. “I feel like every time I was in her presence, I had to kind of reset myself because I just kept thinking of all she had been through.” She said Meriwether has shown her that even seemingly “cartoonish” characters can be brought to multidimensional life — by constantly running lines, never mentally checking out, always finding ways to work the character. “One of the major things I have learned from her is discipline and commitment and dedication,” Hutchins said. Onstage is where Meriwether feels most at home, despite her acclaim on the silver screen. “I think it’s the immediacy of the audience and the work ethic that’s needed,” she said. “And that you work with other actors. “Film — yes, you work with other actors, but it’s ‘Time is money. Come on, let’s get this shot.’”
Only one film she was in sticks out in her mind as one with hard-working actors: “I tell people I was the luckiest of all the Catwomen,” she said. That’s because most of the stars — Adam West, Burt Ward, Cesar Romero — had started in live theater. “Other films I’ve done, I don’t see them rehearsing at all,” said Meriwether, who turned down a seven-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox in hopes of starring on Broadway. “It just solidified how I should be working when I’m doing film and it just amplified itself when I’m doing theater.” Meriwether said her experience being featuring in “Once Upon a Mattress” has all depended on the director — “my divining rod” — as it does in all her performances. “I knew that Jim [Hesselman] would be an excellent director. Well, not only is he an excellent director, he’s a father figure to the youngsters, he molds them while he’s trying to mold me, but he does it in such a gentle, fun way,” she said. “No one knows that they’re being instructed. He has that gift.” As for the youngsters themselves, Meriwether has simple advice for making it onto bigger stages. “No matter what happens, follow your dream,” she said. “If you’ve got a dream and somehow it doesn’t happen, don’t worry about it. Keep trying. Don’t put up obstacles for yourself. Just keep working. Study, study, study.”