Living on the Peninsula, Fall 2011 by Sequim Gazette

FALL 2011

THE PLAYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE THING ... Pg.10

Small house, big theater Key City Public Theatre

Pg.18

Happily amateur Port Angeles Community Players

Pg.24

Olympic Theatre Arts

Pg.35

Hot Summer Stage 28 years of PALOA musicals

Pg.37

Rainforest Players

Pg.38

Just another day in Paradise

Nonprofit theater opens minds and creates community LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

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32 41

DEPARTMENTS Recreation Gardening 8 Fall 32 Good Carrying heavy stuff to sleep on the ground A Gardenerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Playground & Spirits 13 Food Time for Salmon

50 Events Calendar

Living End 52 The Art is from plays, concerts, bands, etc.

Heart & Soul When your heart thirsts for understanding

& Then 54 Now Photographic journal

SPOTLIGHT 10 Small house, big theater Key City Public Theatre

14 Music to lift the spirit Sequim City Band

Happily Amateur Port Angeles Community Players

24 Olympic Theatre Arts up the ... Orchestra! 28 Strike Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

35 Hot Summer Stage 28 Years of PALOA musicals

37 Rainforest Players another day in Paradise 38 Just Nonprofit theater opens minds and creates community

41 Port Townsend Boatyard 44 Calligraphy More than beautiful writing

On the cover: The Johnson Creek trestle trestle, along the Olympic Discovery Trail, east of Sequim. Photo by Jay Cline

Contributors Patricia Morrison Coate

is the award-winning editor of Living on the Peninsula magazine. She has been a journalist since 1989 and earned degrees in Spanish from Eastern Michigan University and Indiana University. Coate joined the Sequim Gazette in 2004 as its special sections editor and can be reached at patc@sequimgazette.com.

Jay Cline started as an appren-

tice printer for a Midwest newspaper in the mid-1970s and has worked for newspapers on the North Olympic Peninsula over 30 years. He is now the computer technician/graphic designer for the Sequim Gazette and plays with cameras in his spare time.

Gina Cole is a journalism student

at Western Washington University who completed a news internship at the Port Townsend Jefferson County Leader in summer 2011.

Chris Cook

is the editor and publisher of the Forks Forum and a resident of Forks. He is the author of “The Kauai Movie Book” and other regional bestsellers in Hawaii. His book “Twilight Territory: A Fan’s Guide to Forks and LaPush” was published in May 2009. Cook is a graduate of the University of Hawaii.

Karen Frank

received her master’s degree in transforming spirituality from Seattle University. She is a writer and spiritual director in Port Townsend. Reach her at karenanddana1@q.com or www.yourlifeassacredstory.org.

Sharon DelaBarre is the cur-

rent chairman of the board of Olympic Theatre Arts and has been active with the organization over the past 20-plus years. DelaBarre has a degree in theater arts from California State University, Fresno, worked in summer stock in central California and traveled to Korea and Japan with the USO in the late 1960s. She has functioned as a designer (set and costume), director, actor, board member and all around gofer for OTA over the years.

Jan Halliday has written travel

for magazines and newspapers for more than 30 years, covering the West Coast of North America. The author of two travel guides to Native art and culture, she also writes a weekly column, “What’s In Store,” for the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader.

Beverly Hoffman writes a gar-

dening column for the Sequim Gazette that appears once a month. She is an enthusiastic longtime gardener. She can be reached via e-mail at columnists@sequim gazette.com.

Elizabeth Kelly

has lived on the Olympic Peninsula nearly a dozen years. She has worked for three newspapers as reporter and freelance writer. She also wrote as a technical writer. She has traveled to all seven continents and continues to be curious about the world around her.

degree in biology from Marylhurst College in Oregon and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Hayward State University in California. She works as a nurse at Olympic Medical Center and volunteers at The Dungeness Valley Health and Wellness Clinic.

Leif Nesheim

was an awardwinning reporter and hiking columnist with the Sequim Gazette from 2003-2006. He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of WisconsinMadison and is the editor and general manager of the Vidette in Montesano.

Mary Powell

is the former editor of the Sequim Gazette. She worked in the newspaper industry for nearly 20 years, was an education reporter and also the editor for the Columbia Basin Herald in Moses Lake. She has won several journalism awards, most for editorial writing. Now semi-retired, she volunteers for several local organizations and enjoys an occasional freelance assignment.

Cathy Clark

226 Adams St., Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-2900 Fred Obee: fobee@ptleader.com

Kelly McKillip has a bachelor’s

Design:

Jerry Kraft

is a playwright, poet and theater critic. He reviews Seattle theater productions for SeattleActor.com and the national theater website AisleSay. com. In addition to his writing and photography, he teaches memoir writing at the YMCA in Port Angeles where he lives with his wife, Bridgett Bell Kraft, and their daughters McKenna and Luxie.

earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Calvin College, which led to a career in advertising design. She has been an award-winning graphic designer for the Sequim Gazette since 2004. She enjoys traveling and reading history in her free time. Clark can be reached at cclark@sequimgazette.com.

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Fall RECREATION

Carrying heavy stuff to sleep on the ground Story and photos by Leif Nesheim

espite the burden of an over-heavy pack and a trek up steep slopes, camping by the pristine beauty of Silver Lakes was worth the effort. My backpack was heavy. I loaded it with my sleeping bag and pad, a change of clothing, sandals, food for the weekend and a bear-proof canister, tent, folding stool, fishing pole and tackle, propane stove and fuel, mess kit, knife, extra knife that I later found buried in my pack, camp towel, first aid kit, four bottles of water and a bottle of wine, flashlight (but no batteries), and not one but two books. (I also had a camera but I carried it separately.) Next time I go camping I plan to reduce the load significantly. The well-maintained trail switchbacks in a steady climb upward at a 20-percent grade through a fir and hemlock forest with a dense understory of rhododendron. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve now hiked this trail twice: once before the pink flowers were in bloom and once after. I look forward to making the trek again when they are in full rosy splendor. I stopped soon for lunch. Better, I reckoned, to carry the weight of sandwiches and juice in my belly than on my back. Shouldering my burden once again, I trudged toward the top. I hiked slowly and paused often, noting my progress by my relative height compared to a peak to the south that partially obscured the floating majesty of distant Mount Rainier. Soon the forest diminished and the trail opened into a magnificent meadow ripe with wildflowers. Crimson paintbrush, violet lupine, white yarrow and daisies, little yellow flowers, bluebells and dozens of others in varied hue and form. The buzzing of bees and flies in their busy business of feeding and pollinating droned close by and on all sides while the whispering rush of falling water from a pretty waterfall provided a serene auditory accompaniment. And still the trail climbed, past Camp Windy to the junction with the Silver Lakes Trail. From there it ascends gradually to a saddle in the ridge before descending on the far side. I met a nice couple hiking to the lakes from an

Morning sun reflects off the nameless peaks that surround the Silver Lakes. At right, a butterfly rests on mountain meadow flowers.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Silver Lakes How long: 5.5 miles from trailhead to Silver Lakes. How hard: Rather strenuous. Above, left: A large marmot stands guard from his rocky perch near the meadow by the larger of the two Silver Lakes. At right, a waterfall threads How to get there: Take U.S. Highway 101 one mile its way down a ridge side seen from the meadows below Camp Windy. south of Quilcene. Turn right on Penny Creek Road. After about three miles the road becomes Forest Service Road 27, unmaintained way trail that follows Silver Creek from near the Tubal Cain Trail. keep left where the road forks. Follow the road, which soon I busied myself with searching for a perfect campsite: room for a tent, nice view, becomes a one-lane paved road, another 10.6 miles. Go past and most importantly, level ground. I found a spot and set up camp. the first sign that points to the Mount Townsend trail — which As twilight fell, not only was I tired but my flashlight was without batteries and leads to the lower trailhead — to the second sign, about my legs were horribly chafed by the swimsuit liner of my hiking shorts. I could a mile farther up the road. Turn left and drive about 1.3 barely hobble from my tent to my stove. I cut the offending liner from the trunks miles to the upper trailhead. Begin hiking on the Mount with my pocket knife. Townsend Trail, at about 3.0 miles the trail forks: The night was cold, but I slept well and woke early. The rose light of the morning To the right is the trail to the summit of Mount sun shone beautifully on the massive rocks of the glacial cirque that surrounds the Townsend, to the left is the trail to Silver lakes, while a ghostly steam rose off the glassine water of the near lake (the other smaller Lakes (there is a small sign). lake was out of sight 0.2 miles to the north beyond some alpine fir). Trees and mountains reflected in the pool while I cast my fishing line into the water in hopes of landing a trout or two. Lots of tiny fish were jumping and when I switched to lures, some nibbled once or twice but were too small or tentative to get hooked. My spool unraveled twice and I had to cut away most of my fishing line. Once the sun shone bright in the day, I lay next to a log on the southeast shore in the alpine meadow bordering the side of the lake and I decided to swim in the cool lake. During the day, perhaps a dozen day hikers had taken the plunge, splashing in the refreshing water. Though it was brisk, it was pleasant. The bottom of the lake was a mucky mire of sloppy mud that squelched between toes. I tried not to touch it. I read until the light was gone and soon was visited by the sandman myself. After a quick breakfast, coffee and tea, I packed away my camp and headed back down. Thanks to the loss of food weight, my pack was much lighter and only a short portion of the return hike was uphill. I was able to enjoy the trip quite a bit more than I’d imagined I would. I stopped to rest and appreciate the views atop the saddle and soon caught a brief glimpse of Mount Baker from the ridge before rejoining the Mount Townsend Trail. I judged my proximity to the trailhead based on the apparent fatigue of the uphill hikers I met as I headed down and was soon thrilled to see the lovely sight of my red truck waiting parked in the shade.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Story and photos by Jerry Kraft

ooking only at the 66 seats in Port Townsend’s Key City Public Theatre, one easily could assume that this is just another relatively insignificant, community-based amateur theater. In fact, this small stage is home to much of the most exciting, high-caliber music and drama on the Olympic Peninsula. Playing to roughly 10,000 audience members a year, this daring and progressive organization produces seven shows in its regular season and performs between 10 and 20 performances of each, while also involving hundreds of community members in a positive blend of local talent with seasoned professionals. When artistic director Denise Winter arrived in 2005, she came from working at Radio City in New York. “Frankly, I didn’t know anything about community theater,” she says. “My background was all in professional theater.” What she wanted, though, was for Key City to be a theater built around inclusion. “There were a lot of local actors who feared that if professionals started working on this stage, there would be no place for them, that As artistic director, one group would push the other out.” Denise Winter has What she found was that there was a been central to creating a theater surprising number of theater professionwith the highest als in the area who didn’t have a place to standards and work and that by giving them a place to broad community participate along with regular commusupport. nity members she could elevate the level of performance for everyone on stage. She also could use the theater to build that sense of community and make it belong to everyone. “We have about 400 volunteer positions a year available,” she said. “And around 250 community members work

regularly. Plus there are literally thousands of people who connect with us in other ways, either through business or community groups, as audience members or through connections with our performers. We are very active in making as many connections as we can between us and everyone in the area.” Those connections draw people into the theater and onto the stage. For Robert Krieg, who operated the light board for the theater’s summer production of “Bark – The Musical,” the route was through his now 12-year-old son. “I was in a choir and someone told me they were doing a musical here,” the boy says. “I definitely want to be in the theater now.” Beverly Nicholson owns “Wandering Wardrobe,” a vintage clothing store in Port Townsend. The theater frequently came there when costuming period shows. Then, someone said, “Why don’t we ask her if she’d like to costume for us?” She was delighted that someone had asked. That led to her enthusiastic involvement and added one more business and personal connection for the theater. When a first-time director was talking about who could do her set design, she suggested a friend, Terry Tennesen. A graphic artist and animator, he hadn’t done theatrical design since college, but after that first experience he found that his talents were well-suited to the theater’s needs. “Terry is a wonderful designer,” Winter said. He also is a key person in building sets that others design. “It’s always a technical challenge,” he said. “Can we do it without too much cost and not have it look cheap?” Always, the bottom line is the quality of what you see on stage. Linda Dowdell is an experienced musician and composer who was attracted to Key City Public Theatre by just that quality. Also from New York City, her first experience at KCPT was the original drama “Birnham Woods.” “It was really so good and I was surprised to find that level in this small town,” she said. Further collaboration with Winter led to a very successful production of her original cabaret show, “Here’s to the Ladies,” and musical direction of the summer show. She has several other writing projects in the works and is confident that KCPT may well be interested. New shows always are welcome here. When Winter heard that there was a new playwrights series connected with the theater it was a prime attraction for her. “The New Play Festival was a jewel to me. If you want to have theater in the future, you need to be generating it now. If you want to tell your community’s stories, you have to find your community’s playwrights and then you have to foster and support them,” Winter said.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Musician and composer Linda Dowdell came from New York City and found a home for her work on the KCPT stage. Here she is working backstage as muscial director with a young singer Mikaela Euro on the summer show, “Bark – The Musical.”

Last spring KCPT premiered Mara Lathrop’s inventive and deeply felt drama “Garden of Monsters” and before that they took on an ambitious commedia dell’arte original called “The Soup is Served,” for which the entire cast worked for months with an Italian expert in that classical style. Last season also included “Macbeth” the perennial Christmas favorite “Best Christmas Pageant,” “Bark – The Musical” and “Dracula” as well as the New Play Festival. That sort of season is a signature of Winter’s style and range. “The only two conditions of my first contract were that I picked the plays that we did and the directors, whose work I then oversaw. They asked if I wanted a play selection committee and I said, ‘Oh, no.’ A season picked by committee will ultimately be a season of compromise. There are so many other considerations in building a season: who do you have for talent, what does the community want, what is new and what classic is newly relevant, who can you challenge and in what ways?” All of those considerations are behind everything that Key City Public Theatre is doing and they are descriptive of why this small house is home to such large accomplishments. I can’t think of another theater in this area that displays as much vitality, competence and high artistic standards. Amateur and professional are really meaningless designations in this context. Is it good theater? At KCPT the odds heavily favor that it will be.

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Salmon Cape Cleare supplies most of Port Townsend with wild Alaskan salmon Story and photos by Fred Obee Nothing pleases a Northwest palate quite like salmon and one salmon fishery in Port Townsend stands out like no other. It’s Cape Cleare Salmon, named for the vessel that brings the fish home, a 50-year-old wooden troller built in Tacoma of Douglas-fir and Indiana white oak. A crew of two handles the tall rigging poles that spread out and troll up to 50 lures off six main lines. The fish are pulled aboard one at a time. Once part of Puget Sound’s large salmon fleet, today the Cape Cleare heads to Alaskan waters to fish. “We catch salmon one at a time by hook and line. We handle each fish carefully to avoid bruising and descaling and we follow an exacting process of bleeding and cleaning. We freeze our salmon at sea within one hour of catching them,” company literature says. Cape Cleare has been fishing in Alaska for more than 30 years and direct marketing the catch since 1998. Today you can find Cape Cleare Salmon at the Port Townsend Farmer’s Market either as flash-frozen fish or grilled to perfection and served on a French roll. You’ll also see the Cape Cleare fish delivery bicycle

Cape Cleare’s barbecue stand is a welcome and popular sight at Port Townsend Farmers Market and outside the Port Townsend Food Co-op.

out and about, towing its custom-fabricated trailer made from an aluminum ladder and delivering fish to restaurants and farmers markets. “We believe in bicycles as a viable alternative to motorized vehicles. We’d like to see bicycles used more often in business and commerce. We believe in building bicycle-friendly infrastructure to encourage more people to cycle, according to the company.” So the next time you see that perky mermaid on a package of salmon or you happen to run into Cape Cleare’s capable crew grilling their special dinners, give the offering a try. And don’t forget to take some home for a barbecue, for fish tacos or any other salmon treat.

Fish tacos

Cape Cleare direct markets its catch to food co-ops in the form of packaged fish.

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1 garlic clove, chopped 1 Serrano chile, seeded and chopped 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate 4 salmon fillets (4 to 6 ounces each), fresh, thawed or frozen Salt and pepper to taste

8 small (6- to 7-inch) flour tortillas, warmed 2 large navel oranges, peeled, pithed and segmented 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves Combine garlic, chile and 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy nonstick skillet. Sauté over medium heat until garlic and chile are soft. Remove pan from heat; place garlic and chile in a small bowl. When cool, add water and juice concentrate; blend. Rinse any ice glaze from frozen salmon under cold water; pat dry with paper towel. Return skillet to medium-high heat. Brush both sides of salmon with remaining oil. Place fillets in heated skillet and cook, uncovered, about 3 to 4 minutes, until browned. Shake pan occasionally to keep fish from sticking. Turn over fillets and season with salt and pepper. Cover pan tightly and reduce heat to medium. Cook 3 to 4 minutes for fresh/thawed fish. Cook just until fish is opaque throughout. Remove skin, if any, and break into large chunks. To serve, divide salmon among tortillas. Top with 2 to 3 orange slices, 1 tablespoon red onion slices, 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves and 1/2 tablespoon chile-citrus sauce.

13 13

Music to lift the spirit Above: The Sequim City Band performed at the James Center for the Performing Arts on July 4 with a rousing patriotic concert. Photo by Richard Greenway

Story and photos by Elizabeth Kelly

istening to the Sequim City Band tune up is like hearing a melodious cacophony of sounds and notes. From the lilting Left: Sanford Feibus directing melody of an individual flute to scales being the concert. played on a trombone, the music weaves in and Submitted out of harmony. But when director Sanford Feibus photo gives the downbeat to “The Star Spangled Banner,” every instrument comes together in a rhythmic and stirringly familiar pattern. As the music lifts you out of your chair, it also lifts your spirit. Feibus has directed the band for four years, having moved to Sequim with his wife, Ila, in 2002. His many credits include playing the French horn in the U.S. Army Band, earning a master’s degree in music education and teaching music in Pennsylvania and Arizona for 39 years. In July of this year, he was on the staff of Camp Heebie Jeebies, a weeklong workshop in traditional big band and jazz music held at Camp David Jr. on Lake Crescent. Conducting a band is second nature to him, he said. “The Sequim City Band is a unifying force for the community,” Feibus said. “It comes from the community and is part of the local art scene.” Musicians come from as far away as Lilliwaup, Port Townsend and Forks, and “members range in age from high school age to the middle 80s,” he said. To illustrate the age variance, Feibus noted that, “One of our group, trombone player Frank Keyes, was an aircraft carrier pilot in World War II,” while first-year member Brittany Brabant, also a trombonist, currently attends Peninsula College. Brabant is a singer as well and occasionally leads the singing of the national anthem. As a nonprofit organization, the band receives its financial support

directly from the community. Donors, called Band Aides, provide enough funding to pay the director, provide college scholarships for younger musicians and buy music for the band’s use. One of the recipients of a band scholarship is flutist Jodie Chamberlain, who attends Pacific Lutheran College in Tacoma and plays with the band when she is on the peninsula. Each member is responsible for his or her own instrument, but the band owns some of the larger percussion instruments such as the marimba, timpani and bells. Fundraisers are held throughout the year and the concerts are free to the public. The musicians play for their friends, family and neighbors who come to the concerts, which “adds to the esprit de corps of the group,” Feibus said. “The 50 to 60 members of the band are from all musical levels and backgrounds,” Feibus explained. The band consists of medical doctors, teachers, public servants, college students and many retired folks. “Some adults haven’t played since high school or college. They all want to do their best and I usually get the best out of them,” he quipped. All the players in the band are there because they want to play music and they are having fun. Feibus can joke around with the players before a rehearsal or concert, but he also demands professionalism and quiet attention when giving directions. Patsy Mattingly has played flute and piccolo with the band for 15 years and is a past president of the group. “I have played flute since the fifth grade,” she said. Her musical background includes playing with the high school marching band in Barrington, Ill. She also played while attending Whitman College in Walla Walla. “I was happy to find out that they didn’t have a marching band at Whitman,” she laughed. “The only time in my life that I haven’t played flute was the three-year period I was in Seattle. They just didn’t need any more flutists while I was there.” Skill levels and musicianship vary within the group. “You’ll find a whole

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

range of what people have done with their instruments in the band,” Mattingly said. “Someone might not have played their instrument since school and when they retire, they think to themselves, ‘I’d like to do that again.’” Sometimes, retirees don’t think they still can play, but they try it out and find that they can pick it up easily. “The only thing hard for me is memorizing,” she added. There is music for everyone in the Sequim City Band, Mattingly concluded. Her favorite thing about the band is that they play a “huge variety of music — modern jazz, musicals, rock and roll, some pop music and novelty pieces.” Of course the mainstay of the band is the march, and in particular, John Philip Sousa’s marches. The band’s library includes every Sousa march ever written, as well as classic band literature from other composers. The current Sequim City Band president, Richard Greenway, plays the French horn. He graduated from Port Angeles High School and attended the University of Southern California where he said he “played all through college.” As president of the band, he said his duties include chairing the board meetings, helping to make sure all the licensing for the music copyrights is in place and working on the various fundraisers. Greenway recently went to China for his job with Nikola Engineering. He has been with the band for three years. One of the newer members of the band is Kristen Larson who has played flute with the band for the past two years. She said the best thing about being a member of the band is “the togetherness of it. We’re all here because we love it. You can feel it in the room; it’s vibrant and alive.” Larson said that when people take their music home to study it, there is a “real difference in the sound.” She said that although about half of the music they play is Sousa marches including “those

everyone can hum and ones nobody has ever heard before,” they also play several medleys of modern classics from musicals such as “The Music Man,” “Evita” and “Phantom of the Opera.” Lately, she said, the band has been doing more jazz pieces and music from the “big band” era.” Speaking of their director, Larson said, “Sanford has a marvelous ear and is a masterful musician.” He is gentle and jokes a lot with the all-volunteer group and the band is getting better all the time under his direction, she said. Larson has taken flute lessons for eight years from Sharon Snel, principal flutist with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Feibus told the flute players he would like them to be proficient on the piccolo as Members of the band, clockwise from top: Brittant Brabant, trombone; Kristen Larson, flute; Richard Greenway, French horn; and Patsy Mattingly, piccolo.

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

well, Larson added, and she has purchased a new piccolo to comply with his wishes.

Beginnings Shortly after Chuck Swisher and his wife moved to Sequim in the early 1990s, he began to look around for other musicians with the idea of forming a band. Having played in or directed a band since his teen years, it only seemed natural to him to want to form a band on the Olympic Peninsula. The Sequim City Band began in 1992 as just a summer band, playing from JuneSeptember. There were only a handful of band members — approximately 15 — in the beginning, but the numbers have continuously grown over the years. Swisher’s musical roots began in Missoula, Mont., where he was a member of the band and choir at Billings High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Montana State University and a master’s in music theory and composition from Washington State University. He taught high school music in Thompson Falls, Mont., and led the high school choral and band program at Pullman High School for 28 years. He also developed a music theory class for students going on to college. A member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference and the Retired Teachers Association, Swisher’s rich history in music includes playing with and directing military and Hollywood studio bands. He knows many of the composers and arrangers from the 1950s and 1960s personally and has a wealth of musical knowledge. Under his direction, groups have received many awards over the years, but he claims the best awards were seeing his students become successful professional musicians.

By the Numbers:

There are 62 players in the Sequim City Band. The instruments are: Flute and piccolo – 8; oboe – 2; clarinet – 10; bass clarinet – 1; bassoon – 1; alto saxophone – 5; tenor saxophone – 1; baritone saxophone – 1; trumpet – 9; French horn – 4; trombone – 7; baritone – 2; tuba – 5; and percussion – 6.

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Looking back on his career, Swisher said that his fondest memories are with the Sequim City Band. He directed the band from 1992-2008 and you still can find him occasionally sitting in with the band, playing his tenor sax. In 2005, the band designed and built an outdoor performance stage, called the James Center for the Performing Arts, with funds from donations. The stage subsequently was given to the City of Sequim, which maintains and operates it. The James Center for the Performing Arts — named after the anonymous local citizen who made a large donation for the building, and the rehearsal building, Swisher Hall — named for Chuck Swisher, director of the band for the first 16 years, are located at 563 N. Rhodefer Road, just north of Carrie Blake Park. Large numbers of people from the community turn out on the third Sunday of the month from May-September to hear the band in concert. They will be performing in concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18, at the James Center. You also can catch an indoor performance by the band at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23, in the Sequim High School auditorium. During December, the band is scheduled to play for the Sequim Noon Rotary Club and the Boys & Girls Club and they will perform for the Santa Concert in downtown Sequim at 11 a.m. Nov. 26. The Sequim City Band invites instrumentalists of all ages and musical abilities to join them, with approval of the director. “Auditions have become necessary,” Feibus smiled, “because we have grown so large.” That’s not a bad problem for any volunteer group to have.

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Current players of the Port Angeles Community Playhouse welcome new members. Standing, from left, are Robert Sommers, Kathleen Balducci, Beverly Brown and Caralee Rupprecht. Kneeling, from left, are Kathleen Hussey, Barbara Frederick and Ross Kavanaugh.

‘Happily amateur’

Below: A mannequin waits to take her curtain call in one of the costume closets.

Port Angeles Community Players invite you to join in the fun Story and photos by Joan Worley Members of the Port Angeles Community Players take a break, settling into seats rescued when P.A.’s old Olympian Theater was razed. Discussion turns to some of the group’s more tentative show-biz moments. There was the Agatha Christie mystery in which “Miss Marple” confronted the murderer, then suddenly went so far off-script that the play’s “constable” had to leap onto the stage to handle all the revelations. And of course there were those times when actors waiting in the green room became so caught up in a card game that they failed to appear on cue. Recollections then turn to that production of “Wild Oats” when an ominous hangman’s noose

was to descend from above. Instead, says member Kathleen Balducci, “Down comes this skinny little string with a tiny loop in the end of it.” “The show backstage,” says Barbara Frederick, “is funnier than on stage.” “We take our productions seriously but not ourselves,” says Balducci, this year’s board president. And though past president Caralee Rupprecht recalls a fleeting urge to stab the above-mentioned Miss Marple with a prop dagger, she and other members have long since forgiven the wayward sleuth. The Port Angeles Community Players bask in that camaraderie typical of actors. They know they’re onto a very good thing and they look forward to sharing it with future members. “We want new blood,” says board member Kathleen Hussey, “from every age group.”

No awkward pauses

“It’s a great way to get plugged into the community. It’s very social,” says new member Max Mania, who otherwise is plugged into the community as a member of the Port Angeles City Council. Mania simply had phoned to ask about the group when Balducci decided she liked his voice and told him she had a part for him. “I was there at the right time,” says Mania. “Plus, I brought my own jacket.” The group’s initiation ceremony is a sparse one — a friendly welcome and a task assignment. “We are attuned to finding niches for people,” says Balducci. “You come in the door here and somebody grabs you and says

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

The 1952 cast of the Port Angeles Community Players’ first production, John Patrick’s “The Curious Savage.” Submitted photo

‘Oh, great! I’ve got something for you to do. You know how to sew don’t you? No? Never mind, I’ll show you.’ If you’re back here, you work.” One current member fell into the group when she stopped by to pick up her son from rehearsals. She was pressed into service as an offstage radio announcer’s voice and was hooked. She’s currently stage manager for a production. Hussey, then a teenager, began as the prompter for a production of Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park.” She was soon on stage without ever having a thought of becoming an actor. “We like a balance of men and women, so everybody gets a chance,” she says. “We go for fun — we’re not headed for Broadway,” says Balducci. The group has, however, had its share of eager youngsters who begin with the players, get bitten by the theater bug and go on to other training. Balducci’s twin sons, for example, grew up around the playhouse. They are now professional stagehands in Seattle.

Just do it

The group’s welcoming enthusiasm is surely one reason for the continuing success of this determinedly amateur group. Every member does all kinds of jobs on each production, from building maintenance to props handling to scene painting to acting, even directing. “As an actor you know your part and how it fits into the big picture,” says Beverly Brown. “But the director has to create the big picture, wear all the hats and elicit everything possible out of each character and not just one.” “It’s your vision,” adds Frederick, “and you have to try to convey it to all the actors and everyone else. Plus you have to stay within the group’s means.” (Frederick looks forward to directing a “new” play by Mark Twain next May: The script was unearthed in 2005 from the Twain archives at Stanford University.) And when the actors aren’t seasoned or when they

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Family heirloom: The lady in the portrait held by Kathleen Balducci has been in more plays than many of the actors.

have trouble learning the script? “That’s the fun part,” says Robert Sommers, who will direct “Chaps: A Jingle Jangle Christmas” for the holiday season. “It’s great to see someone who knows they’re rusty, but still has fun doing it. The other actors bring them along and have patience with them.” “I’m impressed with the phenomenal talent I’ve seen in this community,” says Mania. He’ll direct his own play, billed demurely as a “3-D zombie apocalypse,” on the playhouse’s Second Stage this Halloween weekend, while Sommers brings Clarence Darrow to life in a one-man show in January 2012. Performers with “day-jobs” are what community theater is all about and this group has emphasized the “community” aspect from its beginnings.

Act 1

The Port Angeles Community Players first took the stage in a production of John Patrick’s “The Curious Savage” in 1952 and for almost 20 more years they continued to take any stage they could find in town. Theatrical vagabonds, they mounted productions wherever they found space, storing costumes and props in rooms rented from the YMCA. Rupprecht recalls vamping in a harem costume at the Elks Lodge; the group did dinner theater at the Eagles. Schools — the old Roosevelt and Jefferson Elementary — felt the tread of their feet. They performed upstairs at Harrington’s Restaurant where Rick’s Place is today, lugging sets, props and lights up a narrow stairway. Sometimes they even played in a theater. “I remember going as a kid,” says Hussey, “to watch this group’s plays at the old Olympian Theater.” After the Olympian’s demise, the Community Players kept going. A generous gift of property from Esther Webster, whose former home is now the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, made a real theater possible. It was a lucky time to build.

Ross Kavanaugh’s view of the stage from the lighting board above. The chandelier in the middle is from the old Olympian Theater.

‘Is Claire’s booth loose?’

“It was a smaller town then,” says Hussey, “and having a play was one of the few social events. People dressed up.” And they appreciated the group’s entertainment. The Community Players held bake sales, flea markets, cake walks. One cake walk featured a prize of bear meat, says Rupprecht. Several members still shudder at the memory of serving as fortune tellers at group bazaars. Shaky underpinnings

To see where you fit in with the Port Angeles Community Players, call 452-6651. Tryouts for Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Nile” are Nov. 11 and Dec. 1 for performances scheduled Feb.17-March 4. Copies of the script are at the Sequim, Port Angeles and Peninsula College libraries.

Sin ce

players to build the space and furnish it. A thrust stage — in fashion during the heady days of interactive theater — went into the small space along with the seats taken from the defunct Olympian, seats refinished and reupholstered by the group and community volunteers. Although the rows of seats now are tiered for better viewing, in the old days they were flat, and for good reason. “We had to build with a flat cement floor that had a Ross Kavanaugh and Kathleen Balducci try it on in the make-up room. In the old days, says Balducci, everyone shared the same dressing room, until the male drain in it,” says Balducci, “so if we went bust the building actors were granted a closet. could go to Peninsula College, of the fortune-teller’s tent inhabited by a member named or if nothing else, it could be a car dealership.” Claire who gave rise to, “Is Claire’s booth loose?” – a favorite “Anyway, that’s the legend,” adds Hussey. memory of the group. Suitably, the first play performed in the new building “If you made several hundred dollars, you were doing was Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth.” all right,” says Balducci of the group’s events. Th e playhouse is cozy, even by 1971 standards. The The group also sold naming rights for seats in the thrust stage cheek-by-jowl with the seating makes the theater-to-be, certainly a speculative move on the part of space perfect for a group that performs, as Mania puts it, donors. From all accounts, however, the people of Port “totally unplugged. ” The acoustics are perfect for unmiAngeles were willing to bet on the group. Lots of support crophoned actors. was community sweat equity. Businesses donated materiThere is no orchestra pit. When musicians are needed, als and money. Townspeople worked side by side with the

says Balducci, “They are tucked into little corners here and there.”

Their house is a museum

“It’s like being a member of the Addams Family,” says Mania of his fellow players. Of course, the playhouse is suitably eccentric in itself. A warren of rooms joined by stairways that would make Escher nervous, the building houses a museum of costumes, props and accessories all meticulously organized. Racks of dresses sorted into long formal gowns, short formal gowns, tea gowns, day dresses and so on, represent every period and walk of life. Collections of men’s suits and costumes — tennis, anyone? — are similarly complete. The playhouse has for decades been the recipient of military uniforms whose owners wanted them to be devotedly preserved. And so they are. Visitors will find a vast collection of shoes and more than 2,000 hats in tidy boxes awaiting their chance at the limelight. Rows of shelves hold stacks of boxes with precise labels: “Maid ensembles,” “Sleeve garters,” “Clerical collars.” On the way to the props room, a mannequin in a gypsy skirt and blouse awaits her cue. A similar embarrassment of riches crowds the properties areas, upstairs and down. A gleaming “Phantom”-style chandelier adorns the scene shop where Ross Kavanaugh presides over geographies of flats and enough tools to build an ark. Upstairs, three big shelves hold prop telephones suitable for every era — from crank wall phones for rustic

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‘We want to give it new life again’ Over the past 59 years, 40 in its own theater, the group has drawn members of the community into the magic of making theater happen after work. “It’s tremendous therapy,” says Frederick. For those interested in being part of the fun, the commitment of time may be just a few hours to search out props or do a bit of sewing; or it can expand to six weeks of rehearsal and performances. “Whatever you have available to give,” begins Hussey … as Balducci finishes, “we will just suck it right up.” So attend the play. But on rehearsal nights — if you value your couch potato time — be careful how you go through that door!

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

By Karen Frank

hen I worked at the Department of Social and Health Services as a financial worker checking the documentation of those applying for help, I interviewed people about their circumstances in a small cubicle. One day I entered the room and faced an 80-year-old black woman. Born before there were widespread opportunities for black women to find well-paying jobs, and before domestic workers were covered by Social Security, she had been trying to survive on a pittance. She received $72 a month from Social Security.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

When I told her she was eligible for medical and financial help, and food stamps, she grabbed my hand and kissed it. Thank you, thank you, she said repeatedly, and bless you. I snatched my hand away, embarrassed and also ashamed that I — downy and still wet behind the ears — held the power over this weathered woman’s survival in old age. I remember that when I graduated from college and sought jobs, my mother told me to look for one with benefits and a good pension plan. I scoffed. From some great failure of imagination, I could not envision myself old, old and unable to just go out and find a job and take care of myself. Now, of course, companies are reluctant to provide incentives, which seem relics of an era of unprecedented prosperity. Safety nets gape with human-sized holes and pensions and other benefits wither away. How are we called to respond? There is a great political debate occurring throughout the nation about U.S. priorities and principles. At the same time, our spirituality and faith traditions influence our values, which underlie our choices. As a child, I took great pride in my ability to memorize the Missouri Synod Lutheran catechism, with its 10 commandments and explanation of what those commandments meant. Yet I had little real understanding. What was covetousness, for example, a long and complex word. Why would I covet my neighbors’s mule or my neighbor’s wife? On the other hand, I certainly did want a mohair sweater, just like the other girls (although when I got one, it turned out to be too warm and itchy). I didn’t want homemade clothes; I wanted clothes that were just like those that everyone else had. I sought conformity — to fit in and be indistinguishable from those I perceived as belonging to the “in” crowd. I even ditched old friends because they didn’t seem cool enough to help me in my quest. Ironically, one of those friends became part of the “in” crowd, while I never did. I lost her friendship for nothing. It took me a long time to get over that desire to be one of the “cool” crowd. The problem was that their values and my values did not align. The principles and values that provide the background for my choices sort of seeped in around the edges from civics class, church, family and community. I didn’t sit down to decide them, although I later rejected ideas that seemed outdated or harmful. On a Monday night a month ago, I was reading one of my alumni magazines and my heart filled with longing. Story after story described service projects people undertook. A woman and her husband started a house for other women to recover from substance abuse and mental health problems. A young man served as a success coordinator for Bailey Gatzert school in Seattle helping at-risk youth achieve their best. A Cambodian man who had fought the Khmer Rouge and lost both legs in a land mine explosion traveled the world pleading with

governments to ban the use of these weapons that remain behind when the fighting is over. I recognized that at the heart of me I yearn to reengage my compassion for people, reactivate it from where it languishes underneath layers of cynicism, despair and hopelessness. I want to be part of the crowd of doers of justice and kindness. I need to make a difference. It reminded me to “listen with the ear of my heart” as St. Benedict put it. What are the deep currents flowing through me? Besides the laundry, what do I crave to accomplish with my day? What hunger of the soul will never be satisfied by pecan pie or Oreo cookie ice cream with butterscotch sauce? When I was in my 20s, I aimed to make as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time each week so I could spend the rest of my days writing grants for nonprofit organizations. That seemed like a good balance. Later, I used to fantasize about creating a foundation with lottery winnings which would allow me just to give money to people who needed it. I pictured buying a forest and leaving it untouched. I thought of creating affordable housing. None of that has transpired exactly as imagined, although I have written grants for nonprofits. Indeed, I’ve sometimes lost touch with my compassion for people different from me, although all of us share struggle and joy, we quirky, uncertain, unique individuals. Most of us think we know The Truth; this can be a problem in arriving at solutions during times of trouble. So, how do we act in this time of crisis and opportunity? In millions of different ways. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and now we’ve elected a black president — not living a fairy-tale ending of happily ever after, but with the same struggles we all face. How do you lead the country of your soul? Are you at war with the world? Where do you spend your money and how do you use your time? Let’s take a few minutes today to get quiet: Wait until you hear the Spirit of Life blowing through the world and stirring up love in your heart. What if we all lived with compassion and healed our corner of the world? Who will go first in reaching out a strong and tender hand?

HEART Soul

Karen Frank has an M.T.S. from Seattle University in Transforming Spirituality. She is a writer, spiritual director and photographer in Port Townsend. You are welcome to contact her at karenanddana1@q.com with questions or comments.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Clockwise, from top left: 1. The bench outside OTAC’s main entrance invites theatergoers to come and play. 2. Community members raised the funds to buy this historical building for OTA in 2001. 3. The main stage theater comfortably accommodates 164 people. This photo was taken during the building of the set for “Sleuth.” 4. Remarkable detail was achieved in the rendering of this life cast of an OTA actor. The cast will be used to create a mask for the play “Sleuth.”

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Olympic Theatre Arts Story and photos by Kelly McKillip

Act 1: Enter the community

Creating great theater that enlivens, inspires and educates has been the mission of Olympic Theatre Arts for more than 30 years. The 2011-2012 season brings five celebrated main stage plays, as well as Spotlight performances, and a variety of Second Stage and educational events. OTA has been able to offer quality theater over the years because of the support of a great community and a troop of dedicated and talented volunteers. OTA Board of Trustees chairman Sharon DelaBarre says the trustees’ main focus is to return that support to benefit and build community. The wonderfully appointed space that is now the Olympic Theatre Arts Center has a long history in Sequim. In 1929, seven members of the Methodist Church mortgaged their homes and farms to create a place they could gather and worship. The church was the hub of local activities during the Great Depression, including being a USO center for soldiers stationed in Sequim. By 1991, the Methodist congregation needed a larger church and sold the building to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula. Eventually outgrowing the place, the Boys & Girls Club settled into new digs on West Fir Street. OTA bought the structure in 2001 with funds raised by the community

Bud Davies and friend perform to the delight of OTA members and volunteers at the August appreciation picnic in the Gathering Hall.

for a down payment, moving from the smaller and less accessible Howard Wood Memorial Theater. The Gathering Hall that accommodates 100 was renovated first and is a great place for parties, group events and meetings. The room is an elegant space with wood floors, circle-topped windows and antiqued lights. The main stage addition will celebrate its second anniversary this fall. Comfortably seating 164, the theater is ideal for large conferences and seminars. DelaBarre hopes that Olympic Peninsula residents not only will make a point of frequently checking what great new events are on the horizon at OTA, but also will fully utilize the facility as the great resource it is. Supporting community business is a priority for OTA. Running ads with maps in the playbill is a great way to advertise. A card rack will be available on the premises during performances. Hotels, B&Bs and other ventures may join a concierge program that offers discounted passes to their guests for shows. In addition to catering, restaurant owners may find exposure to their business improves when they provide a wonderful edible for an event. Last May, the first one-act playwriting contest was held and the hope for next year is that more children will take part, as well as attend a theater day camp in the summer. Missoula OTA Board of Trustees chairman Sharon DelaBarre poses on the set of Children’s Theatre has been an annual “The Housekeeper” which she directed in July.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

event for several years. Special Needs Advocacy Parents (Snap) members wrote and performed an original play last season and will be presenting the Sprout Film Festival on Oct. 15. Night life in Sequim is, well, practically nonexistent. DelaBarre hopes to see more evening events such as the Tony Awards Dinner that was held on June 12. After-hour parties such as bistro nights and wine tastings would fill the void nicely. To tempt film buffs, OTA and the City of Sequim are launching once-a-month Wednesday movie night in the Gathering Hall beginning in September. OTA will be soliciting suggestions from the community for upcoming feature films.

Act 2: Backstage

Since its beginning in November 1980, Olympic Theatre Arts has produced many well-known and very wellreceived plays, including a variety of comedies, musicals and dramas. OTA reached a milestone in March 2004 when it produced its 100th play. A polished performance from local actors on a great set is what theatergoers generally experience when they attend an OTA play. Prior to opening night, a tremendous amount of pre-performance and back stage work is required. This season, the board of trustees began with 125 possible titles, narrowing them down to a few that were a balanced mix of well-known and lesser-known works, pure entertainment and educational. Community interest, local talent and technical capabilities are factored into the decisions. The Second Stage offers an oppor-

tunity to run plays that are a bit more controversial and edgy. The Spotlight offerings are eclectic and unique. Continuous improvement always is on the playbill for OTA. The emergency plan was updated this year and a great boon in safety was achieved with the purchase of a Genie aerial lift to replace ladders. Guidelines for directors, procedures and volunteer job descriptions were mapped out. Props were reorganized and inventoried so money is not wasted on duplicates. As with any human endeavor, frustrating problems requiring flexibility, patience and open communication arise but are good for building character and sparking creative solutions. Opportunities abound at OTA for all manner of performance and supportive skills. It takes hundreds of hours per show for the preparation of costumes and sets, makeup and marketing. OTA cherishes its dedicated volunteers but new people with creative ideas always are needed. Technical workshops for lighting, sound and set design are in the works. RSVP script reading will begin in September. Community members interested in improving their performance skills by reading scripts or simply listening in the audience are invited to attend. Popular film and television actress Linda Day George Cronin will be on hand in the role of coach.

Act 3: Cue the actors

Loren Johnson is using the newly acquired Genie aerial lift to safely focus one of the fresnel lights onto the stage.

The main stage 2011-2012 season kicks off with the intrigue of “Sleuth” on Sept. 16. This suspenseful play is described as a murder game in two acts.

For those interested in learning about a great man who changed the world, Oct. 7-9 will please with the Spotlight presentation of “An Evening with Thomas Edison.” To take the chill out of November, the madcap characters created by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman will warm up the coldest heart with “You Can’t Take It With You,” beginning Nov. 4. The December Spotlight presents a unique twist on the old standard “A Christmas Carol.” All the characters in this holiday classic will be performed by one actor. The long, dark days of February 2012 will sizzle with the musical “Spitfire Grill,” starting Feb. 3. On April 27, the lights will focus on the fourth main stage production, the thought-provoking drama “Paragon Springs.” Wrapping up the season with a bang will be the hilarious 1930s parody “Bullshot Crummond,” starting July 6.

Act 4: Curtain Call

During difficult financial times, the arts usually are the first thing to fall victim to budget cuts. DelaBarre says that’s sad because she believes that artistic expression has the ability to bring out the best in humanity. Three decades of support for OTA is a testament to a great community. Encore! OTAC is located at 414 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim, WA 98382. Phone 360-683-7326. To learn more about OTA, check out the latest events, become a member or volunteer, visit on the web at olympictheatrearts.org/. OTA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community theater.

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The Port Angeles Symphony is nearly 80 strong and has been performing since 1934. The Symphony opens its 79th season Sept. 23 with a Pops Concert at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club.

Strike up the ...Orchestra! Ready to open its 79th season, the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra remains a popular venue with North Olympic Peninsula audiences By Mary Powell • Submitted photos

razy. That’s what Mark and Nancy Wendeborn’s family thought when the couple announced they were trading lucrative careers in banking and business in Texas for what Mark called a “more simple life.” The quest for a simple life brought them and their young son to Washington and eventually Port Angeles. Having been involved in community theater in Texas, the Wendeborns soon became ensconced in the local scene, earning parts in a Port Angeles Light Opera production of “Hello, Dolly!” Not long afterward, Mark learned the Port Angeles Symphony was looking to hire a business manager. He applied for the job and was hired. That was in August 1997 and he has never regretted the decision. It was certainly not a crazy decision, especially considering the Port Angeles Symphony is ready to open its 79th season and continues to play to nearly sellout crowds. “This has been an amazing experience for me, by far the best job I’ve ever had,” Wendeborn says. That an orchestra possessing the considerable tal-

ent and skill of the Port Angeles Symphony exists in a town the size of Port Angeles — population 19,000, give or take a few hundred — is in itself quite surprising. Indeed, that has been the reaction among orchestra members who moved here from cites with well-known symphonies, including Seattle, Chicago and even Nova Scotia, Canada. Mary Moon, violinist and present concertmaster, moved to Sequim in 1990 and was very excited to find there was a symphony in Port Angeles. A long-time musician and music lover, she immediately joined the orchestra and apart from the few years she took care of her ailing parents, has been a member of the organization since. Wendeborn says he couldn’t believe the town had a symphony the size and quality of the one in Port Angeles. What’s more incredible, he asserts, is that the orchestra has persevered over time, considering that symphony orchestras throughout the country are struggling. “We are doing wonderfully,” Wendeborn says. Most concerts are within 60 percent of selling out all 1,166 seats at the Port Angeles High School auditorium,

home base for the orchestra. Indeed, big-city orchestras such as Chicago, Boston and Cleveland are facing fiscal woes. The renowned Philadelphia Orchestra last year was the first to declare Chapter 11 in order to fend off its creditors. School orchestras are under pressure, as well, with state aid dwindling, especially for the arts. Moreover, the audience for the performing arts in the United States is both declining and growing older, according to a 2010 survey from the National Endowment for the Arts. “It does not really surprise me that so many orchestras and operas are struggling,” says Tim Page, professor at the Thornton School of Music and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. “What really surprised me is that is it getting to the big leagues.” Page goes on to say the small orchestras probably are going to “bite the dust and I say that with great sadness.” And yet the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra manages to hold its own year after year, even managing to seem “recession proof.” Wendeborn cites the main reason for the symphony’s

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

financial growth during his tenure is the overwhelming generosity of the loyal audience. Teresa Pierce, communications coordinator for the City of Port Angeles, is one of those loyal audience members, attending nearly all concerts. “It’s like going to big world-class orchestra without the long drive,” she says. In the beginning, an oil products distributor, a physician and a banker comprised the orchestra that eventually would morph into the Port Angeles Symphony. Within a short period of time, 15 more townsfolk joined the orchestra. For three years, the group met at the physician’s home to practice their craft. That was in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression. Gathering together to make music together might have been just the antidote to counteract the dismal times the Depression brought to the entire country and in particular to the lumber town of Port Angeles. Ernest R. “Biz” Gehrke, the oil products distributor, was the strongest driving force behind the orchestra, helping finance it, recruiting musicians and promoting the organization. “He fought the dismal times with music,” writes Elizabeth Sims in her book commemorating the 75th anniversary of the symphony. Violinist Helen Tradewell was one of the first to join the orchestra. She moved to Port Angeles with her parents in 1918, eventually earning a degree in music from the University of Washington. She returned to Port Angeles to teach music in the Port Angeles schools and give private lessons. She married her husband, George, in 1946. Again from Elizabeth Sims: “There were no dues, no officers and no business meetings when we started,” Helen recounted. “Just fun and music. We didn’t perform for the public at first, it was for our own enjoyment. We played lots of Sousa marches … they were Biz Gehrke’s favorites.” The first public appearance by the orchestra, accord-

Violinists add their expertise to the symphony.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Above: The horn and percussion sections play during one of the Port Angeles Symphony’s concerts. Right: Adam Stern has been the symphony’s conductor since 2005. He is also the music director of the Seattle Philharmonic.

ing to Marie Read, another early member, was a comic operetta, “Captain Crossbones.” That was in February 1934 at the Elks Lodge. The group took its show on the road, performing in Forks and Port Townsend. By the early 1940s, the orchestra was 30 players strong and gave its first radio concert, from Victoria. Newspaper accounts of the concert were glowing. Others, not so much. Tradewell, for instance, remembered a few of the players getting seasick on the boat trip over to Victoria and called the performance “awful.” Today the orchestra rarely, if ever, gets “awful” reviews, neither from the press nor its members. Nearly 80 people play in the symphony, which includes a board of directors, a paid conductor, a business manager/executive director and the Friends of the Symphony organization. In 1985, the orchestra began the first of several goodwill tours, the first being to China. Others were to Peru and Bolivia, Spain and France, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, Thailand and Vietnam, Portugal, Spain and Morocco, Costa Rica and most recently Italy. It’s quite a leap from the humble days of Biz Gehrke and rehearsals at Dr. Will Taylor’s home. Adam Stern describes the

first time he conducted the Port Angeles Symphony as heartbreaking. Not that the orchestra didn’t appreciate his leadership. In fact, they were extremely pleased with his direction. The heartbreak came from the fact that Stern was asked to conduct the orchestra one week after the death of Nico Snel, the beloved conductor for 18 years. “I didn’t know if we should dwell on Nico’s death or move on,” Stern remembers of the concert that featured Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.” “I went in, thanked them, rolled up our sleeves and got to work. It’s what Nico would have wanted.” Snel was the symphony’s 10th conductor and

A smaller version of the Port Angeles Symphony poses for photos after a concert at Sequim’s Jardin du Soleil Lavender Farm in Sequim.

After much debate and angst — 17 held the baton longer than any other months’ worth — the board of direcconductor, from 1985-2003. Born and tors and search committee came to the raised in Holland, Snel immigrated to the conclusion the residency issue could be United States at the age of 15. His father was a talented musician and conductor. changed and offered the job to Stern. Needless to say, he was thrilled and acThe apple, it seems, doesn’t fall far from cepted on the spot. the tree, since Snel, a gifted violinist, Stern’s favorite composers include eventually discovered his true love was Mozart, Haydn and Tchaikovsky; howconducting. ever, when it comes to selecting music He went on to conduct various orches— Karen Hart, viola, Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra for symphony concerts, he often chooses tras in California, including the Oakland pieces other than the tried and true. Light Opera Association and the Contra same school. Stern started out playing piano and flute, Costa Youth Symphony. but one day during college, his professor asked him to Besides the obvious — that is, a deep appreciation of Sharon Snel, Nico’s widow and principal flute and conduct the student orchestra. music and the ability to play an instrument with aplomb personnel manager for the symphony, remembers “Something clicked,” Stern recalls. “My professor — the 80 or so Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra musiwhen her husband asked her if she would like to go to said to me, ‘You realize you just found yourself. ’ ” cians have pretty much the same reasons for taking part Port Angeles. She said sure, thinking it was only for the Something clicked again for Stern when he was called in the organization. weekend. Living in Bellevue at the time, she wasn’t sure to conduct that first concert after Nico Snel died. Nearly all of the participants have relocated to the she could adjust to small-town living. But adjust they “It was an incredibly moving concert,” he says of North Olympic Peninsula from another community, did and both grew to love the town, the area and perhaps that October night. “It was obvious the public loved and when they arrived with instruments and talent in most importantly, the symphony. them so much.” hand, they discovered, quite to their surprise, an orchesSnel describes his first season with the symphony Orchestra members also took to Stern, campaigntra of fine and professional stature existed right in their as rough, but he saw the orchestra’s possibilities and ing for him to be their next music director. Stern was backyard. It was akin to a honeybee discovering a field helped make it what it is today, that is, a first-class orwilling, but knew one of the requirements for the job of lavender in need of pollination. chestra. Nico Snel died of cancer in October 2003. was permanent residency in Port Angeles. Stern was That, along with the beauty and diversity of the penAnd that’s when Adam Stern made his debut in — and still is — conducting the Seattle Philharmonic, insula, compelled the musicians not only to lend their Port Angeles. A gifted musician, Stern was accepted at was happy in Seattle and told the search committee he expertise to the community, but also to continue to do so the California Institute of Arts at the age of 15 and by age couldn’t make a permanent move to Port Angeles. for years and years. In other words, they got hooked. 21 had earned a Master’s of Fine Arts degree from the

“I just really, really appreciate what this community has created. It’s just wonderful. And to me the orchestra is a model, or a metaphor, of what society is about. Together we can do things that we can’t do as individuals.”

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Port Angeles Symphony Concerts 2011-2012

Music Director Adam Stern coaxes the best from his musicians. Stern is the 11th conductor since the orchestra began in 1932.

Symphony Concert No. 1 Nov. 5, 2011, 7:30 p.m. Port Angeles High School Auditorium Kabalevsky: Suite, “The Comedians” Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto Scarlatti/Tommasini: The Good Humored Ladies Beethoven: Symphony No 8 in F, Opus 93

Symphony Concert No. 2 Dec. 10, 2011, 7:30 p.m. Port Angeles High School Auditorium J. Strauss: Artist’s Life Michael Haydn: Pastorello (Christmas Music) Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 Hovhaness: Alleluia and Fugue

Or, as a violinist and 37-year-symphony veteran puts it, “I hope to continue playing in the orchestra as long as my fingers can handle the music and I can negotiate Highway 101.” Longevity with the symphony is a common thread among its members. Many have 20 years or more under their belts, or should we say, instruments. Ed Grier is one of those. A principal percussionist and assistant conductor, Grier moved to Port Angeles in 1963 from the Spokane area, where he played with the Spokane Symphony, to teach school, conducting the high school band and chorus. He and his wife, Nancy, served on the symphony board, as well. Like most of the orchestra members, Mary Moon, violinist and concertmaster — a position she shares with violinist Kate Dean — grew up with music as a mainstay. Moon began playing the violin when she was 9 years old and says she fell in love with it “at first sight.” A continuing love, she maintains. In fact, she has named her 100-year-old German violin “Baby.” Moon also is an accomplished singer, having studied with soprano Marni Nixon, known for her roles in movie musicals and operas. By the age of 4, Moon was singing with her three brothers and they soon became known as the Von Trapp family of Washington.

She studied at the Cornish School in Seattle and has an impressive list of performance accomplishments, both vocal and symphonic. Her role as concertmaster means she is the only paid orchestra member. She tunes up the orchestra before rehearsals and concerts, runs sectionals (practice for the individual sections of the orchestra) and works with individual musicians if need be. If the composition calls for a solo, she often is the one to play it. “Every moment with the symphony has been memorable for me,” Moon says. “Many of the people have touched my life.” When we speak of the symphony or the orchestra, it’s often as a single entity. We sometimes forget the symphony is made up of many parts, the individual musicians who share their talent with appreciative audiences. And that’s exactly what those who play in the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra do each time they perform for those of us lucky enough to hear their glorious sound. Background material for this story is from the book “Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Seventy-five Years of Music on the Strait, 1932-2007,” by Elizabeth Sims and Ned Thomas.

Symphony Concert No. 3 Feb. 4, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Port Angeles High School Auditorium Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Milhaud: Suite Provencale

Symphony Concert No. 4 March 10, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Port Angeles High School Auditorium Verdi: Overture, “I vespri siciliani” Haydn: Symphony No. 101 in D, “The Clock” Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C, Opus 56

Symphony Concert No. 5 April 14, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Port Angeles High School Auditorium Schubert: Symphony No. 6 in C Schickele: A Zoo Called Earth Gounod: Ballet Music from “Faust” Walton: Crown Imperial For a complete listing of the Port Angeles Symphony 2011-2012 season, including chamber orchestra concerts, visit portangelessymphony.org.

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A gardener’s playground Story by Beverly Hoffman • Photos by David Godfrey

s much as Jane Stewart and Neil Burkhardt, owners of McComb Gardens in Sequim, have invested in their own education, as well as promoting Washington State Nursery and Landscape certification of their staff, they work even harder on the concept that gardeners should be having fun. If gardeners aren’t, Neil and Jane suggest a change in some way: Reduce the size of the gardens, hire someone to help, take out that irritating tree that pokes you every time you pass it. They believe landscapes are installed; the garden is a playground. Experimentation, experimentation, experimentation is the name of the game, along with a strong dose of humility. We gardeners need to recognize no matter how hard we try and to what degree we plan, we are going to make mistakes. Plants have their own genetic DNA of what they want to become and how much they want to sprawl. They don’t read plant labels about their mature size and often grow beyond a general descriptor, especially here in the Pacific Northwest where ideal growing conditions exist. In gardening, there is a constant tension between humans and plant life. Each has its own vision. Neil and Jane’s nursery is a display garden, which showcases specimen plants, mostly at their mature growth. The nursery gives gardeners an opportunity to see size, proportion and habit so that they can imagine the plant in their own gardens. Jane and Neil have used professionals Dan Hinckley and Phil Wood to create parts of the display. Neil laughs and says that hiring outside help was cheaper than divorce since he and Jane see gardens from different perspectives; a third eye was mandatory. Jane is the artist who looks for the same elements she uses in her paintings — repetition, pathways for the eyes,

color combinations that work. Neil is more the plant expert and sees shapes and textures. In thinking of a design in a garden, he thinks of flowers last — the opposite of the way most gardeners purchase plants — and uses them to soften edges. The two of them do, however, agree that landscapes are compositions, with variations of a theme or that transition from theme to theme. The basic design principles they follow are: 1. Repetition creates unity. Use both plants and colors for repeating patterns. They mentioned how yellow can be a strong color and a single plant of yellow can stop the eye. Use several other touches of yellow or use more of the same plant in the border so the eye can move through a landscape. 2. Before planting, first plan for paths, uses within the garden and utilities. Paths should be wide, enough for two or three people walking abreast or wide enough for a wheelbarrow. Let pathways meander rather than take simple straight lines from A to B. Soft pathways invite people to linger, as well as entice them to look ahead in expectancy as a path curves into the unseen. Figure out the watering systems and outdoor lighting, if you’re going to install them. Decide the mood you want your garden to project and where you want to sit and have a conversational or dining area. Function should be well-established before any planting. 3. Specimen plants and trees are stand-alone plants that can become a focal point in a vignette of supporting plants. Use specimen plants for accents. Rather than thinking of a category of prized specimen plants, such as Japanese maples and Cryptomerias, consider that many plants/trees can be a specimen. Perhaps you need a plant

It’s part of the intrigue of being in a garden to discover art rather than art that takes too much of a center stage.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Above: Another theme that works well in a garden is plants in the same color scheme. At right: When designing a sitting area and pathways, be generous so branches don’t poke into them and people can walk easily.

an element of psychology. If the garden does not entice you to enter, you … and others … probably will stay out. Entries also define where the garden begins, suggesting, too, that there is an end point. Some gardens seem to splay out in all directions, somewhat like a toddler lying on the floor, legs and arms akimbo. 5. Most people desire a sense of privacy, a retreat where they can move and relax unobserved by others or where they don’t have to look at others’ blue tarps or trash bins. Fences are the easiest way to create privacy. In their McComb Gardens, one can see a yew hedge that creates privacy. Of course, hedges take years to grow — at least four. If an immediate barrier is needed, hardscape is best. Neil pointed out that fences need not be continual. Panels, such as those at hardware stores, can be placed end-to-end but separated by equal distances and then with plantings in a repetitive pattern between the panels can soften the structure and, perhaps, save money. 6. Jane uses a personal principle that she’s not seen

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Photo: Erwin & Peggy Bauer

that is highly textured and so the specimen plant can be the lowly Eryngium (sea holly), with its spiky amethyst flower heads. Neil talks about a specimen plant he chose outside their bedroom window, which he wanted to have fragrance, have a light and airy habit and be a sanctuary for birds. From that criterion, he choose the Styrax japonicas (Japanese snowbell), which grows to about 25 feet high. Had he wanted something shorter, but with his criteria, he could have chosen the Korean spice viburnum (Viburnum carlesii), which grows to about 8 feet tall. After a new display section had been planted, Jane wanted a tree to complete an area and set off a marooned Japanese maple. Together, they chose Robinia pseudoacacia (Tunisian locust) and its bright lime leaves and its proportion work perfectly in that area. 4. Create a welcoming entry. Let your personality emerge so that you, above all others, love to enter the garden. Not only is it a design principle, but it also has

COME SEE US!

written in any books so far. She uses two of the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and then if she needs a touch of the dramatic or a transitional element, she’ll use a single spot of the third primary color. Her sense is that the two primaries work together in a harmony that seems absent when too many colors compete. One of the questions I asked Jane and Neil are their feelings about art in the garden. They use art as they’d use a plant. If texture is needed, they’d insert such a piece. Around a water element, they might place a bird. Neil’s sense is that one almost should have to look for the art hidden among plants rather than it taking center stage, and to avoid cutesy things such as decorative gnomes along a pathway. Garden art should enhance the garden; the garden should not enhance the art. As nursery owners, they warn excited gardeners not to make common mistakes: 1. Not reading the label to plan for the mature height/ width of a plant. Sometimes we think that a plant will

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cap out at a certain height. Neil mentioned that even dwarf plants grow 1 inch to 6 inches a year (which is the definition of dwarf plants) and over 10 years, they can grow 5 feet. 2. Not planting a border made up of dozens of different plants; rather, plant three, four, five or six of the same plant, either in one mass or interspersed throughout a section. 3. Not watering the plant correctly … either too much or too little. Light is a huge factor for the health of plants and also is a clue for how much water a plant needs. 4. Not following the directions on pesticides/herbicides and using too much. Jane reminds her customers that following the directions is actually a contract between the chemical manufacturer and the gardener. Applicable to organics, too. 5. Not giving enough space for seating. Plants poking and jabbing while you’re trying to relax makes any rest stop unusable. Neil suggests that a lesson he had trouble learning, but now recognizes as truth, is that gardeners should plan a landscape to last about 10 years. After that time, the garden probably needs reworking. Trees that have crowded out other plants should be removed. Or the bully plant that is either naughty or elbows its way into every crevice. Make room for a plant or tree that you’ve come to love, such as the Acer griseum (paper bark maple) with its magnificent year-round interest and textural bark that peels, or perhaps a textured tree, such as Cryptomeria japonica ‘Beaumont’s Dwarf.’ Perhaps you want to include pots in your garden, all one color but in different sizes, where vignettes spill into the garden. Both Jane and Neil suggest that we come more as children to our gardens rather than stern, disciplined adults. Remember as children how we made mud pies or sand castles and our screams of delight when we perfected the correct amount of water so the pies could set or where the moat flowed around the castle? A magical time where our work with nature was a shared effort and a pure delight. This is the joy we want as gardeners!

Design an entry that you love. An entry begins to define a garden.

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Hot Summer Stage icals

28 year s u s of PALOA M

Story and photos by Jerry Kraft

As sure as the Fourth of July, a barbecue on the beach or a cold glass of lemonade on a hot day, one of the highlights of summer in Port Angeles is the big musical production staged by PALOA. The Port Angeles Light Opera Association has been presenting a big show, with first-rate production values, lots of local talent and uncounted hours of volunteer support every year since 1983. Its 2011 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance” was the closing of a great loop from their very first production, also by Gilbert and Sullivan, of “HMS Pinafore.” The organization has come a long way between those two comic operettas but what has remained constant has been its standards of performance and production quality. “I think that what distinguishes PALOA from other summer theaters is the scale of our productions,” said Bob Lumens, a central figure in PALOA. “I think our shows are on a design and production level with the best

professional theaters in the area.” A past president and current member of the board, this summer he was the production manager and light designer of “Pirates.” He is quick to point out that he is only one of many, many people who make these shows happen. “In addition to the 25 or 30 performers on stage, there are probably another 30 or 40 working behind the scenes,” he said. That means hundreds of hours sewing costumes, building sets, gathering or constructing props, rehearsing the musical accompaniment, publicizing, doing lighting and hair and makeup and all the other technical and support tasks. Perhaps the nicest surprise about PALOA, in addition to the quality that comes from an all-volunteer staff, is the annual discovery of new and impressive talent on the Olympic Peninsula. This year, two young people, Ayla Iliff (a high school student in her first lead role) and Mark Lorentzen (a college student) brought striking quality to the central roles of Frederic, the unwilling pirate appren-

tice, and Mabel, the fair maiden he falls in love with. Both had wonderful voices and set the performance standard for the rest of the production. “Both of these kids were new to us this year,” Lumens said. In hopes of finding more of that young talent and in order to enrich the major summer production, PALOA also has been partnering with Peninsula College to present a second, smaller show in the fall. Its first fall show was “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and that was followed last fall with “The Rocky Horror Show.” Students from those productions often go on to do the PALOA summer shows. Lara Starcevich, drama professor at the college, has been equally enthusiastic in directing students toward PALOA. Over the course of PALOA’s 28 seasons, they’ve done a broad variety of shows. Those have included classic Broadway musicals such as “Carousel,” “The Sound of Music,” “South Pacific” and “Oklahoma” and newer shows like Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” and “Annie.”

The finale of “Pirates of Penzance” shows the scale and ambition of PALOA’s productions.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Above, left: Frederic (Mark Lorentzen) is in a compromising position between the Pirate King (Ron Graham) and Ruth (Valerie Lape). Above, right: Arie Vlaardingerbroek brought considerable experience to the Modern Major General. Below right: Ayla Iliff was a high school student in her first leading role when she played Mabel in the summer 2011 production. Some of the hairdressers were from local businesses who contributed their time and skill.

“We try to pick shows that will appeal to a broad audience,” Lumens said, “and shows that will let us use as much of the talent in this area as we can. We always have to balance between those shows we want to do and those that we have to do. We have to make enough money to keep going. And it has to be as big as we feel it has to be.” Making it that big is a big undertaking. With the production costs running into tens of thousands of dollars and only six or seven performances in the large Port Angeles High School auditorium, they have to sell a lot of tickets to

every performance. Perhaps one of the best measures of the importance of this organization to the community is that, unlike many large production theater companies, PALOA is solidly in the black. The next best measure of PALOA’s success is the number of smiles on the faces of audience members as they leave the performance, the bubbling energy backstage before the curtain goes up and the enthusiastic chatter at the closing night cast party. Everyone already is asking, “What will PALOA do next summer?”

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Rainforest Players By Chris Cook

Locall actors, andd would-be ld b actors, began staging plays in the early 1980s in Forks, using the now-demolished brick-walled auditorium at Forks High School. The auditorium also was home to the Spartan basketball team in those days, complicating play practices and performances. Both the Odd Fellows building and the gym were part of a rebuilding development of Forks that followed a town fire which burnt half of downtown to the ground. Through ups and downs of interThe former Forks International Order of Odd Fellows building on North est the current company finally found Forks Avenue is a landmark in downtown Forks and today the home of a permanent home in 1997 when the the Rainforest Arts Center. City of Forks leased to them and the West Rainforest Players play requires a commitment that averages Olympic Council for the Arts the Odd three nights each week. Fellows building, and the responsibility for its renovation “A lot of people don’t appreciate the work that goes into and upkeep. a production,” Gurling said. “Everyone reads the play … Mike Gurling, the treasurer for the nonprofit drama memorizing lines; at the same time developing set and stage, group and Rainforest Arts Center manager, sees the Rainscenery, putting the props together is going on. forest Players as a personal creative outlet, as well as a com“It’s a lot of work, you don’t think you’re ever going to get munity of like-minded individuals. He said the Rainforest there, ” he said. “Many people wonder if it’s really worth it, Players offer an avocation for local residents and a rare but the audience reaction is all worth it. When it all comes source of live entertainment in the rural town. together, it is an exhilarating feeling and a camaraderie Gurling got the Rainforest Players acting bug among fellow actors.” in 1991. Rainforest Players president Victor Velazquez is a master “The first play I was in was ‘Twain by the Tail,’” backdrop painter, actor and overall theater arts professional. he recalls. “I hadn’t been in a play since junior high He appeared on stage with the troupe as a child and later school. I played Mark Twain in his early years. He returned home to Forks with a college degree in theater arts ages during the course of the play and they made and an equally talented wife, Katie Velazquez. my hair whiter and whiter. By the end of the play In July, the Velazquezes ran the Rainforest Players TheI looked like old Mark Twain. I just got hooked, ater Troupe summer theater day camp, aimed at training and I’ve had theater in my blood ever since. I’ve played inspiring young actors from ages 8-18. everything from a police inspector to a deranged Along with providing entertainment and education for villain.” the West End community, members of the Rainforest Players A long eclectic list of staged plays ranges from have invested much volunteer time and funds into renovat“Harvey” back in 1982 to “Little Shop of Horrors,” ing the Rainforest Arts Center. A recent major project fixed a Chekhov sampler, Christmas plays, “The Odd an ongoing leaky roof problem. In 2000, an elevator was Couple,” retro radio drama and children-focused installed on the north side of the building to allow access plays like “Honk.” The cast of many of the plays to all to the shows. In 2008, the front of the building was ranges in age from elementary school students to re-sided, the first-floor entrance replaced and an awning actors over 60. with night lights installed across the front, a great help on Mainstays of the Rainforest Players have been the many rainy seasons days in wet Forks and a significant Dr. Steve and Lela Kriebel. She holds a master’s boost to a local downtown revitalization campaign. degree in theater arts and has directed a majorBeyond twice-a-year main performances, the Rainforest ity of the twice-a-year main Rainforest Players Players also has showcased visiting musicians, including performances. a Renaissance music group from Oregon and flamenco “She picks plays based on strength of the actors guitarist Andre Feriante. An artist-in-residence program, in the Rainforest Players,” Gurling said. “We often funded by the Rainforest Players, brought internationally choose a play a member has a passion for.” known weaver Judith MacKenzie to Forks. MacKenzie now He said it’s not always easy to decide on a play to lives in Forks and her looms are located in the Rainforest Arts do. Taken into consideration is the limited number Center so she can share her expert knowledge of spinning, of actors available and committed to the play, plus weaving, knitting and dyeing. picking one that has workable set, prop and cosRadio drama was the theme for this 2005 Rainforest Players For a closer look at the Rainforest Players and the play, with local actors playing a Zoot Suiter, female vocalists, a tume requirements. Staging a play takes about two Rainforest Arts Center, go to www.rainforestplayers.org. months from arrival of play books to opening night crooner and radio days studio technicians and announcers. and during that time, being in the cast or crew of a

Along Forks Avenue, out in the West End rain forest, right in the middle of Twilight-town and its row of Twilightthemed shops, stands the Rainforest Arts Center. Inside the restored historical (circa 1925) International Order of Odd Fellows building a dedicated troupe of players year-in, year-out provides the rural town of Forks with professional-level stage plays. Walking through the door of the two-story, woodframed building takes you back into Forks’ past. A replica of the old Odd Fellows sign that once hung on the front of the building now graces the dark brown, wainscoted first floor entrance. A long set of stairs leads up to the spacious room where plays are performed. The hall also has a kitchen, restrooms, storage areas and the lobby where tickets are taken. The same set of stairs was trod on over 80 years ago by Forks loggers and farmers on their way to a dance or Odd Fellows meeting. The two floors of the building comprise 10,000 square feet of interior space. A Mexican products general store along with an adjacent retail space help pay the bills for the building, which is managed by the Rainforest Arts Center Committee through an agreement with the City of Forks. Tall paneled windows looking out on Forks Avenue open up the wood-floored performance area. Vintage wooden benches line the back and side wall, well worn from countless dance nights and Odd Fellows meetings.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

The Paradise Theatre School is housed in an old church building on Center Road in Chimacum. Erik and Pattie Miles Van Beauzekom bought it in 2000, remodeled it and opened the Paradise in 2003. The school offers classes for actors, playwrights and others of all ages who are interested in theater.

Just another day in Paradise Nonprofit theater opens minds and creates community Story Sto St ory and photos by Gina Cole Erik and Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom came to Jefferson County hoping to find a house with a rehearsal space. What they found was a rehearsal space that they — and many other members of the community — could call home. While house hunting at the turn of the century, they swung by an old chapel building Erik had seen online. They fell in love with it. After Erik did some remodeling and converted the downstairs into an apartment for the couple, they opened the Paradise Theatre School in 2003. “We’ve been going as long as the Iraq War,” Erik laughed. “But less funded and less IEDs.” The first thing they produced was “The Lysistrata Project: A Theatrical Act of Dissent,” protesting the war. It was one of more than 500 readings of Aristophanes’ play on that day all over the world. After the reading and a two-person play starring the couple, the Paradise started offering classes in writing, acting and improvisation. Pattie had been working with Centrum’s education programs in Port Townsend, but Erik’s construction business was taking off, so she left Centrum to start a full quarterly curriculum.

“It was really nice to have someone take over that building and utilize it so well, especially coming to do theater in a small town like Chimacum,” said Charles Duncan, who has done community theater for 20 years. “For me as an actor, the classes they have there have been invaluable. Between them, they have a great knowledge of theater.” The Paradise audience has been growing steadily, although it depends on the show. Shakespeare always does well. The Van Beuzekoms also bring new talent to balance out the old bard. About 25 percent of the productions the Paradise puts on are premieres of original work by locals or the students in the classes. Because they were raised on city theater, the couple is attracted to new or controversial plays or those that represent a minority. “You get to a point where you don’t want to spend three to six months on a play unless it’s really going to challenge you,” Pattie said. With a new rehearsal model, though, the casts and crews aren’t spending nearly that long to get their fix of challenging theater. In what Pattie has dubbed “camps,” actors get their lines a month or two in advance, then come together with each other and the technical crew for a week of intensive rehearsals, eight to 10 hours a day. Seattle actors often join the local ones for these camps, staying in tents in the Paradise’s backyard. Camp

culminates with one or two performances perform man ance ces fo for an audience at the end of the week. “I like to think of it as intense hell for a week,” Duncan said, “but tinged with a lot of fun, because we do have fun with it, for sure.” The camps help actors grow in their craft and reinforce their ties with each other. “You develop a strong bond with people you only spend a week with,” said actor and costume designer Consuelo Aduviso. Aduviso’s sister-in-law introduced her to the Paradise when she moved to Jefferson County. Aduviso had acted in Los Angeles theaters, but had taken a break to have a child. She found their approach to literature and theater was similar to hers. “They make it so easy to jump back in,” said Aduviso, who has been involved with about 14 productions in the past four years. “They gave me a lot of freedom as an actress to make choices. Their approach is really collaborative.” Aduviso said she appreciates the Van Beuzekoms’ adventurous approach to theater. “It’s fun and it’s exciting and it’s rewarding creatively,” she said. That artistic fulfillment is the biggest reason Aduviso is so

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

happy to be involved with the Paradise. “It’s easy to leave your life troubles behind for the hours you have here at the theater,” she said. “It just gives me so much joy.” Jefferson County clearly supports and appreciates the arts, Aduviso said, but the small population translates to a small pool for theatrical talent. The Paradise Theatre School defies the expectation that places with fewer residents have lowerquality theater, she said. “It’s thrilling to find something of this caliber in Jefferson County, which you wouldn’t expect because the emphasis here is on agriculture and seafaring,” Aduviso said. The Paradise has found its niche in Jefferson County by looking at what was being offered by other theaters and trying to go beyond that, while embracing the decidedly progressive community, Erik said. But not everyone loves what the Paradise does. They have gotten anonymous complaints, especially after doing productions with gay and lesbian themes. People e-mailed to say they were “depraved.” After a production of Doug Wright’s “I Am My Own Wife,” about a transvestite who survived the Nazi and communist regimes in Germany, the Van Beuzekoms got a call from someone who asked, “Can’t you keep that kind of thing in Port Townsend where it belongs?” The couple took that as a feather in the theater’s collective cap. “If you want pedestrian entertainment, you can turn on your TV,” Erik said. Theater should propel people to an action state rather than allowing them to be passive in society, he said. “I know we’ve done plays there where the outside comments just show there is a need to do plays like that,” Duncan said. The following the Paradise has developed shows the theater is doing something right, Duncan said. “We’re an educational theater,” Pattie said. “It’s our job to educate people about all the different kinds of theater.” After every play, a question-and-answer session allows audience members to say whether they loved the show or were disturbed by it. But the Van Beuzekoms hope the conversation does not stop there. “We want people to talk about it in the car on the way home or to people they run into in the co-op the next day, because they’re still thinking about it,” Erik said. The Paradise’s plays cover subjects that may not necessarily be on everyone’s front burner, he said. The Paradise Theatre School’s mission statement describes one of the group’s aims as “addressing the problems and possibilities of our times.” The actors grow from this approach as much as the audience does, Duncan said. His dream came true when he had the opportunity to play the title character in Shakespeare’s “Othello.” He also called it the most challenging thing he has ever done. The cast did a lot of research to prepare for the play and Duncan was fascinated to learn about his predecessors in the role — many of whom were white men in blackface or black masks — and the way audiences have reacted to the play since it was first produced. “It was interesting to discover the racism surrounding the play even then,” he said. Aduviso said she appreciates the lack of pretension she finds at the Paradise. “Other theater companies fall into this trap that everything

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Above: Shawn Belyea, right, plays the title role in The Paradise Theatre School’s production of “Ivanov.” Patricia Willestoft plays Zinaida, a wealthy business woman to whom he owes money. Photo by Deborah Hammond At right: Consuelo Aduviso was Miss February in the 2011 calendar the Paradise Theatre School sold as a fundraiser. Aduviso is an actor and costume designer and has been in about 14 Paradise productions in the past four years. Below right: Joyce O’Neal (left) and Flip Wingrove listen as Pattie Miles Van Beuzekom, artistic and education director, reads aloud during a Chekhov for Playwrights class Aug. 7 at the Paradise Theatre School. Photos by Gina Cole is in bold, especially dark subject matter,” she said. At the Paradise, on the other hand, people respect the material and are devoted to their craft without taking it — or themselves — overly seriously. “It’s not just us on a stage with lights on us being important,” Aduviso said. The next big Paradise production is “The Milosevics,” which the group will perform in Seattle in December. Pattie took the transcripts from, and other writings about, the Slobodan Milosevic trials and put them into a piece of documentary theater. “She did it in this really Pattie-esque way, including lipsyncing and dancing and a Twister game,” said actor Heather Dudley Nollette, who has done five plays with the Paradise since 2007. “You’d think all these seemingly off-the-wall elements wouldn’t come together into a piece of theater on a topic as tough to address as genocide, but in my opinion, it came together beautifully. Pattie has a way of telling a difficult-toaccess story in a way that is ultimately accessible.” Using humor, music and pop culture gives the players an inroad and an opportunity to talk about things people might not otherwise talk about, Dudley Nollette said. “You find yourself laughing at things and thinking, ‘Hmm, is that OK to laugh at that? But I’m laughing and it’s opened me up a little bit to talk about it and now it’s OK,’” Dudley Nollette said. The Van Beuzekoms have high hopes for the Paradise Theatre’s future. They want to create a queer teen theater ensemble, consider a three-month rehearsal process to put on larger shows, and develop a podcast to teach people about theater — Northwest theater in particular — among other goals. Erik is a stage combat instructor, so they also hope to incorporate more fighting into their productions. “He’s an excellent swashbuckler,” said playwriting student Joyce O’Neal. Erik is writing a book about the Paradise’s first decade of existence and the process of getting it to where it is now. “It’s a comedy and a tragedy,” he said.

Pattie, for her part, is writing a book about seminal Russian actor/theater director Constantin Stanislavski and the American acting style. She had been looking for a resource on the topic but couldn’t find one, so she decided to write her own. All the proceeds from the books will go to the Paradise Theatre School. The school took a big risk this past summer by offering classes and performances free. It helped families with low incomes access theater when they otherwise couldn’t afford theater classes for their children. In one review on the Paradise’s website, a mother lauds the school for inspiring her two sons and providing them with an invaluable and fun experience: “My oldest would ask me all week, ‘Is it theater day, Mom?’” For the young and the old, the engaged and the curious, the rich and the poor, theater can be and do many things. It surprises, disturbs, excites, inspires and educates. It offers a channel to the thespian and an escape to the observer. To the people involved with the Paradise, the community surrounding it, and the sometimes-radical ideas swirling in the air between them, the little chapel in Chimacum also has offered a home.

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LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Port Townsend Boatyard O

Story and photos by Jan Halliday

ne of the best tours I’ve experienced, in 40 years of travel writing for national and regional magazines covering the West Coast of North America, was a day in Metlakatla, a village of fewer than 2,000 people on the remote Annette Island in southeast Alaska. There’s not much to Metlakatla — a few modest houses, a longhouse, a school, a lumber mill, a fish hatchery, a small marina of fishing boats and, behind the village, a geologic anomaly they call “gold hill,” an unusually large outcropping of pillowy yellow sandstone boulders towering above a muskeg swamp of stunted, bonsai-sized trees. The reason it was such a good tour: It was real. Real people living and working and not concerned with making an impression. The place had a history. An entire village of Tsimshian Indians had put their mill on a handmade barge and towed it with their dugout canoes from Canada’s Prince Rupert to Annette Island in the late 1800s. We put on hard hats and went through the mill, went aboard a seiner and looked at the catch, watched eagles preying on salmon smolt and had a smoky salmon chowder in the only café. At the end of the day, we boarded the ferry and rode back to Ketchikan. Keeping that in mind, a day spent in Port Townsend’s boatyard, on the outskirts of the town’s National Historic District, also is a very good day. The Port Townsend boatyard is the biggest open yard on the West Coast. There, people specialize in the repair of old wooden boats, as well as fiberglass and steel-hulled boats. Every boat that comes into this port has a story, worn on its hull, such as the 1890-era tug Elmore that was smashed on its port side in a storm or Arequipa, a 1927 motor yacht that, after a two-year makeover and multiple coats of varnish, wasn’t launched but cradled in a shipping container bound for Germany. More than 100 independent craftsmen and women form the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association and boat designers such as Carl Chamberlin and Tim Nolan have worked here for years, as well as a steady stream of graduates of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock. The Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op turns 30 in September. Admiral Ship Supply sits in the middle of the yard, and specialists, from people who work on refrigeration to corkers who pack oakum between the ribs of wooden ships, come and go from here. The boatyard is eye candy for artists and photographers: The curved, graceful forms and their shadows, of historical yachts, tugs and fishing boats, hauled out and braced for repair; picturesque, cobbled-together boat sheds filled with hand tools; skiffs and rowboats lying about, new boats being rolled out and dozens of owners chipping away on their own vessels. As boats are lifted in and out of the water, the landscape changes daily, and for you wandering around, there are havens of rest and shelter from capricious weather. Within walking distance are two waterfront hotels, a first-rate brewpub, three cafés, an Indian restaurant, several food vendors and a coffee roaster. Wander down the unlocked docks (try to refrain from looking in the portholes of live-aboards); sit on the beach or bike/walk down the trail that rolls along the bay past Port Townsend Paper Corporation’s steam-belching mill. Bring a cooler and you can take home fresh seafood from Key City Fish or New Day Fisheries. What to wear: Sweats; Carhartts; jeans. If you’re covered with paint, epoxy and wood shavings, and haven’t shaved or combed your hair today (what’s the use, the wind blows), all the better. If you want to fit in, relax. So let’s get down to what you really want to know first. What’s to eat? For breakfast, the Blue Moose Café can’t be beat. From the exterior, at 311-B Haines St., the café looks like a shack. Most of its customers are people who either work in the boatyard or who insist on good food. Don’t underestimate that disheveled guy with a scraggly beard. He’s probably a highly trained boatbuilder with a standard for perfection in his work far higher than most of us. (If you’d like to read a book on the standard required for, say, varnishing, take a look at “Tricks, Cheating and Chingaderos,” self-published by boat-finisher Joni Blanchard.) Breakfast at the Blue Moose is generous and inventive (the breakfast spuds are a heap of fried

LIVING ONN TH TH E PE THE PPENINSULA N NS NI NSUL U A | FA UL FALL ALLLL | SSEPTEMBER EPTE EP TEMB TE MBBERR 22011 00111

The Boat Haven moorage is filled with unexpected surprises, as boats come and go, such as when this red and white striped sail was unfurled at the dock.

Tarolyn Marshall, owner Tana Kettle and sidekick Melissa Allen on a busy morning in their Blue Moose Café kitchen.

Owner John Paul Davies at his Key City Fish, an old-fashioned fish and meat market that ships fresh fish to New York and regional markets.

41 41

Eight-year-old Emerald Bailey plays Irish tunes in front of the Mariner Cafe. She began busking in the boatyard three years ago when her dad was getting his seiner, the F/V Secure, ready for the SE salmon season. She is the daughter of Counsel Langley and Kwin Bailey.

Above: Port Townsend artist Luke Tornatzky paints in plein air, standing between the Larry Scott public trail and the boatyard, the beach and the sun at his back. Below: Port Commissioner Dave Thompson uses a router in his open-air shop in the boatyard.

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Yukon golds and sweet potatoes). Every Saturday, there are nearly 13 dozen fresh cake doughnuts waiting to satisfy your sweet tooth. Lunches are huge sandwiches served with sides of hearty soups and salads. Above the Blue Moose, though you’d never know it had an upstairs, is Fine Yachts Interiors, specializing in leather upholstery for yachts large and small. The aroma of roasted coffee is especially pungent on Haines Street, where Sue Ohlson roasts her Sunrise Coffee Co. beans daily. You’re welcome to come in and see the roaster and sample the blends. Her labels, on shiny black bags, were designed by local artist and poster designer Max Grover, who favors primary colors and whimsy. Sue sells cups, aprons, T-shirts and baseball caps with her logo on them. Choose from these blends: Heavy HaulOut, Crack O’Dawn, Boiler Room Espresso, Salal, Port Townsend or Blue Moose. Helping Sue is Bill Curtsinger, a longtime photographer for National Geographic, so you might see a book or two of his in the shop, too. Lunch is going to be hard to choose. On the waterfront, facing the marina, is the aptly named Marina Café at 2800 Washington St. The café’s sign is a drawing of the Betty Gee, the chef’s boat. The omelets are cooked in butter with sun-dried tomatoes. The daily lunch special is stromboli, a rolled Italian sandwich filled with three cheeses and other fillings such as artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and pastrami. The hot baked sandwiches come out of the oven at noon, are sliced on demand as they cool on the countertop and often are sold out within the first 15 minutes. It comes with coffee and a cookie for less than $9. Another option is Sea-J’s Café, next to New Day Fisheries at 2501 Washington St. The owner Joan, “Sis,” and three waitresses, Jean, Marlene and Helen, have worked a total of 61 years together. Be prepared to engage in friendly banter: When you walk in the door you’re greeted with a hearty “Welcome to Hell.” Sea-J’s motto is “You can order what you want, you get what we give you and be grateful you got anything at all.” The café has only five long

tables, seating six each and you’ll be told to “pull up a table and make a friend.” Order fresh Pacific cod fish and chips or the best deluxe tuna sandwich in the world (according to port commissioner Dave Thompson, whose open-air planking shop is just down the street). Sea-J’s uses Kimmel’s Tuna, fresh albacore canned in jars at New Day Fisheries. “We run it through the garden (pickles, lettuce, tomato and onion),” says Jean, slab it onto Poulsbo bread and grill it. Add a side of big onion rings and one of 50 flavors of milk shakes (made with hard vanilla ice cream with flavored syrups) and you’ll need a nap immediately. No problem. You can stagger across the street to the Harborside Inn with views of the commercial marina. Head east on Washington and you’ll find Dos Okies (succulent pulled pork and barbecue), Sandwich King (a Greek take-out wagon), and Muskan, an authentic East Indian restaurant and one of the best in Washington. If you’re a boater cruising into guest moorage, there’s laundry service next to Muskan, so you can throw in your salt-encrusted sweatshirts while you eat. Behind it, you can find the Laundro Mutt to wash the pooch. West Marine is nearby. It’s one-stop shopping. Walk off lunch along the Larry Scott Trail between the boatyard and the beach. Part of the Olympic Discovery Trail and Pacific Northwest Trail, this wide path heads six miles to the south, but only a short stretch is along the beach. Wildflowers such as lupine and beach peas nod over the trail and it passes a small pond of cattails where red-winged blackbirds sing. You can walk through the boatyard, but take a few cautions here: If you’re driving, crawl through the yard; dust can mar wet paint and varnish going on boats. Watch for traffic; lifts that can haul out 300-ton boats sometimes are remote controlled and can sneak up on you. Do not wander into shops unless you have business there; people are working and meeting deadlines. If you do engage a worker, expect to have an intelligent conversation; despite what you might think, these are crafts people, most are highly educated, curious problem solvers and

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Rick Petrykowski and Diana Tailey have co-owned Taku Marine in the boatyard since 1995. Rick is current president of the 100-member Port Townsend Maritime Trades Association. conversant on many levels. End the day with a beer at Port Townsend Brewing Co. It’s a comfortable, upscale brewpub inside with a beer garden under umbrellas outside. There’s often live music, sometimes with nationally known musicians. The music roster, and the 13 varieties of beer made here, are listed at porttownsendbrewing.com. Try Boatyard Bitter (you’re in the boatyard, after all) and Barleywine, which is caramelized, sweet and complex. You also can order a tray of small sipping samples. Logo T-shirts and caps are for sale here, they’re clean and new — about as fashionable as it gets in the boatyard.

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CALLIGRAPHY: MORE THAN

Calligraphy above by Jane Hall, Lazelle Nature Photography

Calligraphy: the dance in a tiny stage of the living, breathing hand. – Robert Bringhurst in “The Elements of Typographic Style” Story and photos by Patricia Morrison Coate Sensuous, voluptuous, organic, powerful. These earthy words artist Sandy Diamond uses to describe her life’s work in calligraphy over the past five decades. As a 20-something in the early 1960s, Diamond’s first passion was painting, but after her back was broken in 1965, she needed a smaller canvas and saw calligraphy as a perfect medium. She studied 10 years with master calligraphers in the San Francisco, Calif., area and supported herself and her son in the Northwest with her art. She came to Port Townsend in 1998 for a writer-in-residency position with Centrum. “I started showing my work at street and craft fairs. There’s something in us that wants to read things, especially a good quote,” she said. The art of “beautiful writing” is much more than pens and nibs, ink and paper, much more than fonts with flourishes. Calligraphy is a multi-dimensional medium that aims to strike the soul as much as the sight in Diamond’s view. The quotations and poems of others have inspired her to interpret their essence through unique designs in different “hands” or styles of script or print. Often she mixes hands to create shifts in mood.

A diminutive dynamo at 4 feet 7 inches, Diamond is both animated and philosophical when discussing and showing her calligraphy. She radiates energy as she explains the mood and motivation for each quote or poem that she hangs on her walls or pulls from her cache of works. “The design is how you draw people into the text. First come the words, which generally are from my own personal reading, or sometimes a verse jumps out and says, ‘Do me!’ Then the meaning of the quote dictates the hand it’s going to be in,” Diamond said. “Is it intimate and tender or bold — something yelled rather than whispered? So, something fierce like writing about war is in a bold hand like Blackletter. With something more tender I might use Gothic Cursive. Originality is the most important thing to me.” In the piece “There is nothing, nothing, nothing that two women cannot do before noon”, drawn in Brush Script, Diamond explained, “The ascendent and descendent reach, so it has the feeling of spirit and going beyond. The lower case ‘g’ is my favorite letter because it is so voluptuous, so sexy. In this design, I made the ‘g’s’ like braids to convey ‘woman.’ My letter form is Brush Script because it’s very free and so like painting.” As Diamond develops the design process in her mind, she becomes acutely attuned to the emotions of the quote. Her goal is to enhance them by blending the calligraphy components of the hand or font, different brushes and paper textures, lifting the art to

a level beyond words. “You have to be willing to write something on a piece of paper with a gorgeous watermark — and be willing to fail,” Diamond advised. During the creative process, “It’s like time stops when I’m doing something I love. I am at one with it. It’s like being possessed and everything else stops,” Diamond said with Zen-like understanding. “I don’t consider myself a patient person but I’ve loved calligraphy so much I didn’t realize I was being patient. It takes a thoughtfulness that doesn’t come fast.” She has created thousands of works in calligraphy and each has been an original piece of art. A small bedroom in her Port Townsend home brims with organized stacks and stacks of works ready for framing, but Diamond admits

Top left: Sandy Diamond likes to combine Early American quilt designs with her calligraphy. Left: Diamond makes for fascinating conversation when she shares her philosophy on creating works in calligraphy. Right: Diamond designed this piece with “braided g’s” to speak the spirit of women in this quote.

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Above: Diamond loves the volutupous “g” drawn in Brush Script for this quote by Wallace Stevens.

Jane Hall of Quilcene is demure at being put in the same league of calligraphers as Sandy Diamond, but if you’ve ever received an envelope from her, you feel you’ve gotten an invitation from royalty. Hall is the artist agent for Lazelle Nature Photography, a business she owns with her husband, Keith Lazelle, which among other projects, produces an annual calendar. “To me, Sandy’s the true calligrapher and I’ve admired her work for many years.” Hall said. “People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re an artist.’ I never think of myself as an artist. What I do is a creative outlet for me that I very much enjoy.” She’s always been interested in and paid attention to people’s handwriting and over the years has modified her own cursive by incorporating letter styles with special appeal. After moving to the Olympic Peninsula in 1981, Hall took a calligraphy class in Sequim.

“At the end of the class the teacher told me, ‘Jane, you have your own style and you should go with it.’ That really freed me up. I don’t really think I can call myself a calligrapher – maybe I’m an intuitive calligrapher – I just feel it – it just comes out of my hand the way it comes out. Sometimes I’ll do a letter differently and I don’t know why I did it differently.” Hall said she wanted to get better at the craft so she decided she would use calligraphy to address every envelope she used in personal and professional correspondence. “I got so much good feed- With bold strokes, Jane Hall addresses an envelope and says “It just comes out back. It was like people were of my hand the way it comes out.” She added that she enjoys making people feel getting a little gift before they special with her calligraphy. opened their letter,” Hall said. bundle of kinetic energy, Hall said, “The process is very “I think calligraphy is even more special because people centering for me. Sitting down and doing calligraphy is don’t communicate by hand. A personal hand-written kind of meditative and I enjoy that — but I don’t know note is pretty rare now and people tell me it’s a treat to how I do it,” she shrugged. receive mine.” As for showing examples of her calligraphy, Hall said, After about 10 years in business, the husband and wife “Once I’m done, it’s out the door. For me, presentation is team introduced their nature calendars in 1991, with Hall’s really important. It’s a small but powerful way to make calligraphy embellishing clients’ calendar envelopes. people feel special and that brings me a lot of joy.” “It was like a gift already wrapped and now over 30 years it’s been a real important facet to our business,” Hall said. “For the past 15 years or so, I’ve calligraphed our clients’ names with silver ink on our signature black envelopes. is a fellowship of calligraphers who meet at 10 a.m. By the end of calendar season, I’ve addressed at least 3,000 the second Friday of the month at the Parkwood envelopes in calligraphy. I’ve also done calligraphy for the Community Center, 261520 Highway 101 in Sequim. Seattle Art Museum and Quilcene Historical Society.” Peninsula Scribes sponsors classes and workshops Some customers are so taken with Hall’s hand that they with well-regarded calligraphers regularly to foster a better understanding of the craft. For more inforframe their names. mation, call 360-477-4356 or e-mail fontluvr@aol. Hall’s style is bold, with a fair amount of fun flourishes, com. Sequim calligrapher and club member Susan and always is in a state of flux as she finds new letter forms Blenk was featured in the Aug. 17 edition of the and adapts them into her repertoire. A self-described Sequim Gazette.

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with a rueful smile, “I’m not big on marketing.” However, she said, plans are afoot to get her top 20 hits photographed and online so she can reclaim the bedroom. The work of certain authors evokes “their own” hand according to Diamond. “I’ve used Brush Script with Gertrude Stein and Wallace Stevens because it’s done with a brush from the hair of a sable, so it’s so flexible and organic. It’s sensuous because it isn’t metal, but from some animal that used to run over the steppes of Russia.” These days, the 75-year-old Diamond endures crippling arthritis, especially in her hands, so she’s not able to use the tools of her trade anymore. “I miss calligraphy but with my hands so wretched, I’ve had to give it up,” Diamond said. “I’ve seen when one avenue closes down for me in my art, another one opens up. And I have the same feelings about writing — it’s a delightful gift. With the computer I still can piece together poems and plays and I just finished a comedy.” With the spunky determination that has served her well throughout her life, Diamond plans to follow the sentiment quoted and drawn by a fellow calligrapher: “Being an artist is not what I do, it’s who I am.”

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Events CALENDAR EC to Forks

Port Townsend

• Fall Night Cap Series. Point Hudson Marina. www.ptsail.org.

Sept. 23

Oct. 1-2

Sequim

Sept. 16-Oct. 2 • “Sleuth.” 7:30 p.m. Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim. 360-683-7326.

Sept. 17 • Reach for Hospice. 1 p.m. John Wayne Marina, Sequim. Sequim Bay Yacht Club sailboat race. 360-582-0471 or www.reachforhospice.org; • Clinic Fun Walk and Wellness Fair. 8:30 a.m. registration, minimal entrance fee. Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 Blake Ave., Sequim. 360582-2976. • Quilcene Community Fair and Parade. 294714 Highway 101, Quilcene. 360-764-3361, quilcene.com; • South County Classic Cruisers Car Show. All day in Quilcene, 360-765-3250

Sept. 17-18 • Antler Show. Quilcene High School gym. 360-7650688 or 360-765-4810, quilceneantlershow.org. • Cabin Fever Quilt Show. Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 4907 Landes St., Port Townsend. cabinfeverquilterswa.com.

Oct. 1 • Harvest Celebration Farm Tour. Annual farm tour in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley. 360-6810169. • Annual Oktoberfest. 6-9 p.m. at Masonic Temple, 622 S. Lincoln St., Port Angeles. 417-3418. • Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert. 7:30 p.m. Vern Burton Community Center, 321 E. Fifth St., Port Angeles. 360-457-5579. • First Friday Lecture. Jefferson County Historical Society. 360-385-1003, jchsmuseum.org. • Fall Bird Migration Cruise to Protection Island. Port Townsend Marine Science Center. ptmsc.org. • PT Shorts. 7:30 p.m. Pope Marine Park Building, Port Townsend.

Port Angeles

Editor’s note: Due to many requests to be on the calendar, it has been streamlined.

• Port Angeles Symphony Pops Concert. 7:30 p.m. Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles. 360-457-5579 or pasymphony@ olypen.com.

• Farm Tour & Harvest Celebration. Sponsored by WSU Jefferson County Extension. 360-379-5610, ext. 200, jefferson.wsu.edu.

Sept. 18-Oct. 23

• Port Angeles Symphony Pops Concert. 7:30 p.m. Sequim Boys & Girls Club, 400 W. Fir St., Sequim. 360-457-5579 or pasymphony@ olypen.com.

Sept. 23-25 • 12th Port Townsend Film Festival. 360-379-1333, ptfilmfest.com.

Sept. 23-24 • Dungeness River Festival. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Railroad Bridge Park, 2151 Hendrickson Road, Sequim. 360-681-4076.

• 29th Annual Kinetic Skulpture Race. Port Townsend Kinetic Konsortium. 360-379-4972, ptkineticrace.info. • North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival. 9 a.m. 360-681-2257, www.fiberartsfestival.org. • LaPush Last Chance Salmon Derby. www.forkswa.com.

Oct. 3 • Key City Public Theatre 2012 season preview event. 5:30 p.m. 360-385-7396, keycitypublictheatre.org.

Sept. 24

Oct. 6

• Incredible Edible Festival. 10 a.m. Boys & Girls Club, Sequim. 683-6197 or www.sequimchamber. com. • Il Voce. Bay Club, Port Ludlow. 360-437-2208, portludlowartscouncil.com.

Oct. 6-8

• Girls Night Out in downtown Port Townsend. 360-385-7911, www.ptmainstreet.org. • Heritage Days. Various times and locations in

Forks. info@forkswa.com.

Oct. 6-9 • Centrum Jazz Big Band Intensive. Fort Worden State Park. centrum.org/jazz. • Centrum Autumn Nonfiction Weekend. Fort Worden State Park. centrum.org.

Oct. 6-30 • “Dracula,” adapted from Bram Stoker’s novel. Key City Public Theatre. 360-385-7396, keycitypublictheatre.org.

Oct. 7 • First Friday Lecture: Port Townsend Leader publisher Scott Wilson. Jefferson County Historical Society. 360-385-1003, jchsmuseum.org. • “Man of the Millennium – Thomas Edison.” 7:30 p.m. Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim. Also Oct. 9.

Oct. 7-9 • The Clallam County Gem & Mineral Association holds its Annual Gem & Mineral Show from 10 a.m5 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 7-8, and 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9.

Oct. 8 • Fall Bird Migration Cruise to Protection Island. Port Townsend Marine Science Center. ptmsc.org.

Oct. 8-9 • The Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. City Pier, 350 N. Lincoln St., Port Angeles. 360-457-6110 or www.crabfestival.org.

Oct. 14 • Port Angeles Chamber Orchestra. 7 p.m. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez. Ave., Port Angeles.

Oct. 14-15 • Hauntownsend. Jefferson County Fairgrounds, hauntownsend.com. Also Oct. 21-22, 28-31.

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

Oct. 14-16 • 16th annual International Forest Storytelling Festival. 7:30 p.m. kick-off Friday. Peninsula College, Port Angeles. 360-417-5032, forestfest@ yahoo.com.

Oct. 15 • Centrum Gala Dinner & Auction. 360-385-3102, centrum.org. • Port Angeles Chamber Orchestra. 7 p.m. Sequim Worship Center, 640 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim.

Oct. 16 • Food Co-op Apple Fest. Fall celebration of all things apple. foodcoop.coop.

Oct. 21 • Dungeness River Audubon Center 10-Year Anniversary. Open house 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; reception 4-7 p.m. 2151 Hendrickson Road, Sequim. 360-681-4076.

Oct. 22-23 • Rummage Sale & Halloween Costume Extravaganza. 360-385-7396, keycitypublictheatre.org.

Oct. 23 • Olympic Peninsula Mycological Society 2011 Wild Mushroom Show. Noon-4 p.m. Sequim Elks Lodge, 143 Port Williams Road, Sequim. olymushrooms.org or 360-477-4228.

Oct. 29 • Port Townsend Community Orchestra Fall Concert. 7:30 p.m. Chimacum High School auditorium. Pre-concert lectures with Maestro Dewey Ehling at 6:45 p.m. porttownsendorchestra.org.

Nov. 3 • Comedy Night at Key City Public Theatre. 8 p.m. 360-385-7396, keycitypublictheatre.org.

Nov. 4 • Fall general auditions for Key City Public Theatre. Key City Playhouse. 6 p.m. 360-385-7396,

keycitypublictheatre.org. • First Friday Lecture. Jefferson County Historical Society. 360-385-1003, jchsmuseum.org. • ”You Can’t Take It With You.” 7:30 p.m. Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim. Through Nov. 20

5495. www.northolympicwineries.com.

Nov. 5

• Holiday Nature Mart. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Dungeness River Audubon Center. rcoffice@olympus.net, dungenessrivercenter.org.

• Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. 7:30 p.m. Port Angeles High School auditorium, Port Angeles. 360-457-5579 or pasymphony@olypen.com. • PT Shorts. 7:30 p.m. Pope Marine Park Building, Port Townsend.

Nov. 5-6 • Annual Holiday Fair. Jefferson County Fairgrounds, Port Townsend. 360-385-1013, jeffcofairgrounds.com. • Port Townsend Woodworkers Show. American Legion Hall, Port Townsend. splintergroup.org. 360-316-9480 or 360-440-7660.

Nov. 18-20 • West End Weekend. Sponsored by the Jefferson County Historical Society. 360-385-1003, jchsmuseum.org.

Nov. 19

Nov. 25-26 • Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair. Port Townsend Community Center. 360-379-3813, porttownsendartsguild.org.

Nov. 25-27 • Festival of Trees. Vern Burton Community Center, Port Angeles. 1-4 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Open to the public. 360-417-7144.

Nov. 26

• Cashore Marionettes. Port Ludlow Arts Council, Bay Club. 360-437-2208. portludlowartscouncil.com.

• Thanksgiving Cruise to Protection Island. Port Townsend Marine Science Center. ptmsc.org. • Merchants’ Holiday Open House. Downtown Port Townsend. 360-385-7911, ptmainstreet.org. • Santa’s Coming to Town. Noon-2 p.m. Bank of America Park, Sequim. Holiday music, Santa arrives at 1 p.m. 360-683-6197, www.cityofsequim. com.

Nov. 11

Dec. 1-23

• Veterans Day Ceremony. 11 a.m. Coast Guard Base in Port Angeles. • Veterans Day Ceremony. At American Legion Post #26, Port Townsend.

• “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” 360-3857396, keycitypublictheatre.org.

Nov. 6 • A Taste of the Peninsula. 5 p.m. Venue to be announced. 360-452-9244 or gettaccfymca.org

Nov. 10

Nov. 13 • Annual Wine and Cheese Event, 7-10 p.m. Forks Elks Lodge. info@forkswa.com.

Nov. 13-14 • Harvest Bounty Wine Tour. Wineries on the Olympic Peninsula. Ticketed event; 800-785-

Port Angeles

Dec. 2-4 • Sequim Community Christmas Chorus. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2; 2 p.m. Dec. 3-4. Sequim Bible Church, 847 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim. 683-1355.

Dec. 3 • Handmade Christmas Fair. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sequim Prairie Grange Hall, Macleay Road, Sequim; 360683-7021

360-452-6651 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles, WA

Community Players

1971-2011

• Community Treelighting & Parade with Santa. Port Townsend. 360-385-7911, ptmainstreet.org. • Port Townsend Community Orchestra Holiday Concert. 7:30 p.m. Chimacum High School auditorium. porttownsendorchestra.org. • Handmade Christmas Fair. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sequim Prairie Grange Hall, Macleay Road, Sequim. 360683-7021 • Annual Twinkle Light Holiday Parade. 6:30 p.m., downtown Forks.

Dec. 4 • Good Lovelies “Under the Mistletoe” concert. Bay Club. 360-437-2208, portludlowartscouncil.com. • Holiday Tour of Victorian Homes. 2-8 p.m. Self-guided tour. 360-379-2847, victoriansocietynorthwest.org.

Dec. 10 • Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. 7:30 p.m. Holiday concert. Port Angeles High School auditorium, 304 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles. 360-457-5579 or pasymphony@olypen.com.

Dec. 10-11 • Chimacum Arts & Crafts Fair, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Chimacum High School. 360-732-4015.

Dec. 19 • Sequim-Dungeness Christmas Bird Count. Midnight to midnight. 360-681-4076 or e-mail rivercenter@olympus.net.

Dec. 31 • Port Angeles Christmas Bird Count. Midnight to midnight. 360-681-4076 or rivercenter@ olympus.net. • First Night Celebration. Sponsored by Jefferson County Historical Society. 360-385-1003, jchsmuseum.org. • New Year’s Eve Cruise to Protection Island. Sponsored by Port Townsend Marine Science Center, ptmsc.org.

MAIN STAGE SEASON Once More With Feeling September 30 – October 16, 2011 By Harry Kurnitz • B.J. Kavanaugh, Director A perfectionist symphony conductor with a temper, an ex-wife never legally married to him who wants a divorce, and a colorful but larcenous agent work together and at odds to create harmony out of cacophony. A great comedy!

Chaps: A Jingle Jangle Christmas November 25 –December 11, 2011 By Jahanna Beecham & Malcolm Hillgartner Robert Sommers, Director • Penny Hall, Music Director Christmas Eve, 1944. America’s favorite singing cowboy and his troupe are late for a BBC holiday broadcast, so the tour manager grabs warm bodies and shoves them in front of the studio audience for a memorable performance.

Murder on the Nile

F F O g n i W O H S E S U O H Y A L P e h at t

Offering Great Live Theater Since 1952 AND CELEBRATING OUR 40TH YEAR AT THE PLAYHOUSE LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

February 17 – March 4, 2012 By Agatha Christie • Nancy Beier, Director A honeymoon couple unknowingly join the new husband’s ex-lover on a paddle steamer on the Nile. Eccentric passengers join conspiracy and death, with a great Christie ending.

Is He Dead? April 27 – May 13, 2012 By Mark Twain as adapted by David Ives • Barbara Frederick, Director An impoverished French painter stages his own death in order to increase the value of his paintings, and when suddenly a long-lost sister shows up, Ooo, la la! Admission $12 adults, $6 children and students. Season Tickets $40 - 4 admissions to use as you choose. Available at Odyssey Bookshop, 114 W. Front St., P.A. or at www.pacommunityplayers.com

THE Living END

and the musicians interpreting their works. By listening to music, we can find ourselves dancing, we can be saddened, made happier. How many times has a song changed your mood? Through live theater we are introduced to characters who have a wide range of emotions and who find themselves in a variety of situations. You can watch as characters live out unique experiences in front of you. It could be a mystery, a comedy, a drama, a farce or a musical. Can you relate to what’s going on in their lives? Do they make you cry or laugh? Do they raise questions or challenge your opinions? Do they take you out of your own world for a little while? Then they have succeeded! Watching or participating in any way allows us to recharge our batteries. When we experience any form of human creativity it is a natural high! The groups featured in this Living on the Peninsula are all in existence because the folks directly involved have a passion, a hunger for a creative outlet. Whether they actually are performing or working behind the scenes, they appreciate how important creative expression is to the human soul of both the givers and the receivers. Most of the folks participating in our local theaters and musical concerts do it for a love of their “craft” and because they know the value of pushing their creative forces into new directions. Yes, they do it for themselves but they also do it for you, our community. If you are or have been a performer, you know how important an audience is. It is amazing how much energy comes forward to the performers on stage. The people behind the scenes (costumes, lighting, sound, set builders) also feel the energy when they see how their contributions can help a performance come to life! If you never have been “on stage,” you need to know how critical your participation as an audience member is to the whole experience! No performance, whether it is musical or theatrical, is complete without the audience. You help the performers reach new heights. Your reactions, your very energy, is an integral part of the whole production! So, let’s go back to the original premise that “the arts” are critical to our lives. Humankind has been singing, playing musical instruments, creating and telling stories (plays) since we started standing upright. No matter where we live or what language we speak, people always have been able to communicate through “the arts.” We can learn about our own history, other cultures, ideas, emotions through “the arts” — and we also learn that deep down inside, we all are more alike than different. The arts are important because they are a vital part of our very being. You’ll see that our local performance organizations have a variety of options for you to choose from. Some titles you will recognize, others you won’t. I challenge each and every one of you to step out and attend performances of shows you are not familiar with as well as the “tried and true.” The folks who work hard to bring these shows to you count on your support — and energy — to keep them going. Remember, to make every performance complete, there must be an audience! Time for YOU to play your PART — and you don’t have lines or notes to memorize! Sharon DelaBarre is the chairman of the Olympic Theatre Arts board of directors.

is from plays, concerts, bands, etc. Essay by Sharon DelaBarre

The arts are absolutely critical to our everyday lives, our community and even the entire world population! Does this seem like a big claim to you? Let’s take a look at the big picture for a minute. Everything in our lives is connected in some way to a creative “force.” Someone designed or created your clothes, your home, your car, the packaging of the food you eat, the advertising you respond to, the music you listen to, the TV and movies you watch. Too often, as a society, we tend to look at “art, music and theater” as noncritical. Unfortunately when budget cuts are made, schools often cut back or cut out the art, theater and music classes (except the team bands). Our general rational is that students need English, math and science classes to succeed. Well, the truth is students — and adults — need “the arts” too! We all need to “feed” our artistic hunger. Did you know that math and music are tied together at the hip? Did you know that students involved with the performing arts, on average, score higher on scholastic tests and tend to be more successful in life? So why do we short-change the importance of “the arts”? I think it is because everyone is so concerned with “making a living” that sometimes they forget how to live it! How can we bring an infusion of creativity back into our everyday lives? Well, we can start by attending the many musical and theatrical offerings right here in our own communities! Be they theater, music or special performances, they all provide us with an opportunity to step out of our own world and into the worlds of others. Through music we can experience the passions of the musicians — the composers

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA | FALL | SEPTEMBER 2011

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