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CULTURE
NOVEMBER 8, 2013 Theatre review
The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee at CSULB
Courtesy CSULB
Cast members from The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, which is now playing in the Studio Theatre at Cal State Long Beach Culture Writer
A former co-worker of mine spoke and wrote fluent Farsi. One day, when things were slow, she wrote my name in Farsi for my name tag. I looked at the sinuous, cryptic lines. The writing was beautiful, but something about how quickly she wrote it puzzled me. “How do you know how to spell ‘Greg’ in Farsi?” I asked. “Oh, in Farsi, if you can say something, you can spell it. Everything is spelled exactly as it sounds.” “Everything? You mean you don’t have to memorize spelling in Farsi?!” “EVERYTHING!” she assured me. “You don’t have to study spelling. Each character in our alphabet stands for a sound, and there aren’t exceptions like in English.” Suddenly, for the first time in my life, I wish I’d been born in Iran– a wish that never left me until the advent of spellcheck. I thought of the countless hours I
Artist
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you to explain the meaning of your art? Because my art is representational, viewers do not have difficulty understanding it. They more often fail to grasp the value of interpreting reality in such a time-consuming way rather than, say, purchasing a mass-produced version or taking a photograph.
Have you ever been banned or censored to any degree as an artist? If so, how did you react? If not, how do you think you would react in that situation? I have never been censored as my subject matter is typically non-controversial. However, I have been warned, particularly when exhibiting in a municipally sponsored venue, not to include nudes. It does bother me that depictions of the beauty of the human figure can be considered inappropriate.
Does your artistic life ever get lonely? If so, what do you do to counteract it? Actually my life is so busy that my more frequent complaint would be not getting enough alone time to focus on my art. I do enjoy going to a painting group to be stimulated by the work and input of other artists. What do you hope to achieve with your art? I want to leave a tangible record of the pleasure I have experienced viewing the world so that others can continue to share my vision. Particularly, the landscape of California
had spent on my least favorite (and worst) subject back in elementary school. The weekly headbanging (aka “studying for my spelling test”) usually quickly devolved into philosophical musings, like “Why does the ‘ough’ in cough, through, dough, and thought make different sounds?” There seemed to be no logic, because, in fact, there was none. Our spelling rules are fraught with exceptions, and exceptions to the exceptions ad infinitum. (“i” before “e”, except after “c”...or when sounding like an “a” ...or in the following words: species, science, sufficient, seize, weird, their, foreign, feisty…). I’ve often felt we could power the world three times over with the wasted energy spent trying to memorize the correct spelling of words. In 2002, a delightful documentary called Spellbound was released. It followed eight finalists as they prepared for and competed in the National Spelling Bee. It is a wonderful film– both hilarious and moving. What
becomes apparent from the start is that these kids are exceptional and unique in many ways. Some are rich, and some are poor; some are “natural” spellers (who literally just read the dictionary once and remember each and every word) and others have studied for years to make it to the finals. The only common denominator amongst them all is that they are all… idiosyncratic (OK… let’s say it: odd!) in some way or another. The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee must have been inspired by this film. (It was written and performed less than two years after Spellbound premiered, and some of the characters seem almost as if they were peeled off the celluloid and pasted into the script.) This 2004, one-act musical play is based on the book by Rachel Sheinkin with music and lyrics by William Finn. The play focuses on six middle-school contestants in a spelling bee with occasional flashbacks that
with its vibrant colors and dynamic forms, after a life spent in cooler, greener climes, has compelled me, from my first glimpse of it over 20 years ago, to depict it in oil paint.
life situation. (I guess my answer to this question affirms why I would not have been suited to commercial art!)
What are one or two primary areas of fear for you as an artist? Beyond my answer to your fifth question, my biggest fear is being close to the completion of a work with which I am very happy and have it destroyed by some accident. I once ran over a successful plein aire painting which I had forgotten I had leaned against the wheel of my car. Fortunately, in this instance, I was able to paint out the tire marks!
What are one or two factors that, when they’re in place, enable you to really flourish artistically? 1. Adequate sleep. I need to be well rested to be at the peak of my creative form. 2. Personal peace. It’s hard to paint well when in the midst of a stressful
What jobs have you had other than being an artist? Though I have sold a fair number of paintings, I have never supported myself with my art. I paint for the pleasure of it. I had a career as a registered nurse for many years until my recent retirement. Art nourished the right side of my brain.
What’s your favorite color? I love color– all colors, with the possible exception of brown. Though I mostly stay with the same palette of colors, I enjoy experimenting with new hues I encounter and will incorporate them into my palette temporarily or permanently. My current favorite is Shiva Citron Green.
To view more of Hultquist’s work, visit wendyhultquist.com .
Go Painlessly® with THERA-GESIC. RA-GESIC.
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Greg Spooner
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fill us in on their backstories. If you arrive early to the play, you will have the opportunity to volunteer to be a contestant in the spelling bee yourself! Several audience members are selected at the beginning of the show and asked to take their places on stage beside the main characters, who whisper stage directions to them. As the show opens with a song that requires the entire cast to sing and move about as a chorus, it produces some hilariously rough choreography. (It is especially hilarious for the friends and families of the selected audience members!) These volunteers must also compete in the bee but are eventually eliminated by successively harder words by about the middle of the play. Because the play involves these volunteers, some of the dialogue must be improv; no character must do this more than vice principal Douglas Panch (played by Tyler Bremer). Panch reads the words to the contestants, provides definitions and uses the words in a sentence (just like in the real bee). As the volunteers may ask unusual questions or make off-the-cuff remarks, the demands on this actor are unusually difficult. Tyler Bremer proved he had the quick wit to perform. When one volunteer purposely misspelled “cat” as “K… A… T!” (no doubt because he was hoping to leave the stage quickly and return to his seat and friends) Bremer quipped, “... and in Finland that is correct! Correct answer!” Make no mistake (or go ahead and make a mistake… it doesn’t matter!), Bremer is quick on his feet and will not eliminate you until the script deems your character’s time is up! The quirky characters in the play exhibit some of the unusual ticks and behaviors that one might expect from a spelling savant. William Barfee (well played by Benji Kaufman) uses his “magic foot” to trace out the
SIGNAL TRIBUNE
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spelling before stating it to the judge, while Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre (a standout performance by Emily Fontanesi) traces it out on her left forearm. While the play had several strong performers (Jeanette Deutsch and Christian Schmidt also performed admirably), there were some shortcomings that were inherent in the play’s script. First and foremost, the play’s music, while pleasant, was hardly filled with memorable melodies. Although there were many songs, I cannot recall even a single melody from any of them 24 hours later (by comparison, I can still recall the refrain from Evita after nearly 24 years!). Another element that bothered me was the fact that several of the minor characters in the play were performed by the major characters who simply stood behind a cardboard effigy and spoke the other character’s lines. At first I thought this may have been an attempt for a small cast to pull off a large production, but a little research showed me that the play is actually scripted that way! Why? I don’t know. It didn’t seem to add to the humor in any way; rather, it just seemed somewhat distracting. Overall, however, the play is definitely worth catching; the audience erupted with laughter throughout the play’s 90 minutes. And remember, if you arrive early, you may even get the chance to perform onstage yourself.
The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee will play at the Studio Theatre at CSULB through Nov. 10. The venue is located at 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Parking is available in Lot #7 next to the Theatre Arts Department for $5. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8pm; Saturday also has a matinee at 2pm; Sunday shows are at 1pm and 6pm. Tickets are $15 general admission or $12 for seniors, students or staff. For tickets and more information, call (562) 985-5526 or visit calrep.org .