The Arts Mean Business

I am an artist, I own a business that does commercial art and I support the arts in numerous ways including volunteerism, actual cash donations and simply going to enjoy a dance/theater/gallery show on a regular basis.

I’ve always known instinctively that arts are important and valuable, not just on a personal level, but also to society on a harder-to-define and more broad-based level.

That level has now been well defined and quantified, by many groups but particularly by the organization Americans for the Arts, who researches and publishes the economic impact of the arts in a variety of easy to understand fact/impact sheets: http://www.americansforthearts.org/

I could wax philosophically about how important an well-rounded, arts-based education focused on teaching people how to think rather than teaching them what to do has helped me as a person and as an employer but then my Jesuit-education would be clearly and unabashedly be showing. The facts are, arts can help kids and adults learn and adapt to new things (something as easy as playing music while you write or work can improve efficiency, don’t believe me – read more here in the New York Times:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/jobs/how-music-can-improve-worker-productivity-workstation.html?_r=0), can help us access and understand that tremendous link between our emotions and our decision to purchase things (my entire business is based on the fact that how we depict information is just as important as what we depict. Skeptical? I’m teaching a webinar-based course starting next week:http://www.24hrco.com/gographic.html) and generally the arts provide us with an opportunity to appreciate beauty which is scientifically proven to lift our mood (Linda Stone has some fantastic tips about realigning our attention to maximize our own efficiency and hone our focus including appreciating cute things—LOLCats is now market research time, wohoo!—and taking a walk in nature, read more about her here:http://lindastone.net/).

Creativity is the one of the top three personality traits most important to career success, according to US employers (from a study between Adobe Systems Inc., the Conference Board, Americans for the Arts and the American Association of School Administrators). The study claims: “Teaching creativity develops critical thinking, engages students and fosters innovation.”

Further, 72% of all employers say creativity is a primary concern when they are hiring, yet 85% of those employers cannot find the creative applicants they seek. The majority of employers (in all/any industry) and superintendents of schools agree that a college degree in the arts is the most “significant indicator of creativity in a prospective job candidate.” This I’m sure is welcome news to my fellow liberal and fine arts majors.

Similar studies have found that students with an arts high school education “have higher GPAs and standardized test scores…. lower drop-out rates… regardless of socio-economic status.” Additionally, “students with 4 years of arts or music in high school average 100 points better on their SAT scores than students with just one-half year of arts or music.” (Americans for the Arts)

The arts make you smarter and making arts accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay for lessons/classes/programs will make ALL people smarter and make all businesses potentially more pioneering and competitive in an increasingly difficult global market.

Arts are big business in this country. Dun and Bradstreet in a 2014 analysis found more than 750,000 arts-based businesses in the US employee more than 3.1M people. In DC alone 2,537 arts-based businesses employee more than 22,000 people ranging from museums, performing arts, graphic design to art schools. Many arts-based organizations are not-for-profit and a study done in 2012 found that spending by arts audiences, specifically for attending events, is on average $26.40 per person in addition to the event cost for things like restaurant visits, parking or babysitting which pumps even more money into a local economy and creates an arts-based eco-system where tons of non-related businesses can also thrive. The same study found that non-local attendees spent more than twice as much as their local counterparts $39.96 vs $17.42 (per person). Arts drive local economy growth and provide an opportunity for tourism dollars.

Speaking of tourism, the Department of Commerce reports that international travelers in the past 10 years have increased their arts consumption in the US from 18-24% visiting our museums and 14-17% attending a concert or theater performance. Additionally, we export more art stuff then we import—exporting more than $72B dollars work of arts goods including things like movies and jewelry and only importing $25B.

While the arts continue to show growth, vibrancy in local and international economic development, and are key indicators in the overall success of students seeking employment, the arts continue to be slashed from school budgets. Art, in all its many forms (dance, theater, creative writing, drawing, etc.) is seen as expendable, particularly amongst the socio-economic groups that may benefit the most from exposure to the arts. A 2011 study by the National Endowment for the Arts tracked from 1982 to 2008 the decline of arts education to “underserved populations” and found that in 2008, African-American and Hispanic students had less than HALF the access to arts education then their white peers.

While at the same time researcher James Catterall from UCLA found that “low-socio-economic status students who are engaged in arts learning have increases in high school academic performance, college-going rates, college grades and holding jobs with a future.”

If we want our country, our local community and our kids to be successful in the future we should be investing in not only our own access to the arts, but to EVERYONES access to the arts.

Supporting a local arts-non-profit is a great way to do that.

On average, as found in a 2014 study across arts-non-profits in the US, 60% of all revenue is earned with only 24% coming from individual donations (the rest is a mix of grants from local, state or federal governments, corporate philanthropy or foundations). This means that the arts are not always standing around looking for handouts. The arts are making money and driving, as noted early, spending in unrelated but geographically close business while providing jobs.

Go to a show, visit an art gallery opening and grab a drink at a bar before hand (do both with a paint and sip event!), have dessert at a local restaurant after a poetry reading. Support your local artists by enjoying them, regularly.

In DC you cannot shake a stick without hitting an amazing arts experience. We have festivals and performances, cultural events and galleries, there’s art outside and inside, there’s art online and in your own backyard. Get out of your house, away from your TV and experience art. I promise it’ll make you smarter AND happier. It might also make you more marketable for your next job or help you find a new employee (I’ve been known to hire theater people—they are the best at providing customer service even with the most cantankerous clients).

And if you feel so inclined to enjoy making a little art yourself, take a class, or even better still, help someone else take a class.

I have been on the board of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW) for 8 years. I have given my blood, sweat, volunteer hours and cold hard cash to make sure that someone else has the opportunity to do a little art or music or dance or sculpture in my local community. I grew up welfare-line poor and only because other people helped my mom and I, did I get the chance to explore my own creativity. Those experiences have made me the daring, problem solving, confident, professional businesswoman I am today who was able to still be inspired and innovate despite my family’s economic limitations.

You can donate to CHAW here, specifically to support their tuition-assistance fund. No one (child or adult) who has asked for assistance has ever been turned away in more than 40 years of the organization’s existence: http://www.razoo.com/story/Chaw

Or here: http://chaw.org/index.php/donate/paint_bucket1/

You can visit and take a class or see a show at CHAW (they’re metro accessible!) or find a way to support the arts in your local community, wherever that may be in whatever way is most meaningful and appropriate to you.

The arts get a bad rap for being expendable, additional, the “icing” on a cake that is unnecessary for education or for living a full and rich life. Arts aren’t the icing; the arts are the plate that the cake is on. You cannot have a viable, creative, innovative, wealthy and independent society without giving your entire population access to the arts and now, the numbers prove it.

Colleen Jolly

Reprinted with permission from american-broad.blogspot.com.

Film Festival Focuses on CHAW’s Past, Present and Future (the kids!)

On Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 10:00 am, CHAW presents a Film Festival celebrating 40 years of “building community through the arts.” Featured films include “Attack of the Giant Pants” and “Alien Invasion,” short films made by CHAW students, and “CHAW@40,” a 15 minute film stitching together vintage footage, video interviews, historical and contemporary photographs, bulletins, flyers, and more. The event will also include a red carpet, music from the Inscape Chamber Orchestra, refreshments, and a toast to CHAW’s past, present, and future. The film festival is open to all with a $5 suggested donation.  Reservations are encouraged at (202) 547-6839 or victor@chaw.org.

ce McKaig, CHAW’s Department Chair of Photography, created the “CHAW@40” film from over 60 hours of recorded interviews with past and current students, employees, board members, neighborhood residents, and parents. “CHAW@40” is a celebration of CHAW’s 40-year history on Capitol Hill.

“In sharing their stories, participants in these interviews build a moving picture of how CHAW started and has changed, how the neighborhood has changed, and how parts of CHAW’s story have held steady through the years,” says McKaig.

Teaching artist Emma Steinkraus taught, produced, and directed the youth films “Attack of the Giant Pants” and “Alien Invasion.”  She also made some pretty fabulous movie posters promoting the films. Here she shares her thoughts on the process…

“This year I helped kids make two movies. The whole process was pretty insane; in retrospect, I can see that the patience and precision stop-motion animation requires does not play to the strengths of 7 year old boys, but, hey!, we did it anyway.  For both movies, “Attack of the Giant Pants” and “Alien Invasion,” the students built elaborate sets, made their own costumes, worked out the plot collaboratively (some tears were shed when a majority voted against including Star Wars characters in “Attack of the Giant Pants”), acted, and learned the basics of editing software.  For “Alien Invasion,” all that was done in five days.

I think the movies themselves are just great.  Who doesn’t want to watch a pair of giant mechanical trousers (created by Baby Bowser no less) rip up skyscrapers and munch on cars?  Or two alien compatriots argue in an alien tongue aboard their space craft (side note: boy were those papier-mache alien masks hot.  Sorry actors!)?  Both movies show off the zany, unself-conscious inventiveness that children have.  But for me, it was the process that was most memorable.  One of my favorite moments in class was when we were trying to figure out how to make our giant pants move: could we use a puppet? could we find pants big enough for one student to be in each trouser leg?  I’d brought in a pair of men’s pants, and each kid took turns wearing them (swimming in them, really) and I’d lift them up by the seat and swing them around.  For all the problem-solving and tested patience and insanity, we had a lot of fun.”

Attention Campers!

We just want to bang on the drum all day!

It’s May and I’m counting down to my favorite time of year. In just a few weeks Summer Adventure Camp begins! Camp starts June 18, but our game faces went on way back in November as we sculpted and composed a creatively ideal summer.

We will uncover the distinctive cultural arts of Japan, Alaska, Ethiopia and Brazil. Masks, drums, drama; get ready for the thrilling arts of Kabuki  theater! Feathers, beads, capoeira; the charged festivities of Carnaval are ours to enjoy! Want to build a guitar out of a cigar box, or write, direct, and star in your own Sci-Fi movie!? It’s all happening this summer here at CHAW! Can’t make it during those weeks? Other adventures await us and are designed to keep our students moving, exploring, creating and celebrating the diversity of community arts, local and international!

I’m just saying….This is a summer at CHAW not to be missed. I’ll be waiting for you!

Ms. Leslie

H.M.S. Pinafore

Prepare your sea legs and get ready to sail the ocean blue, the “H.M.S. Pinafore” is docking in the Anacostia River at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

Peter DiMuro directs this sprightly and joyful rendition of the Gilbert and Sullivan classic with a few modern twists. Despite a prologue reference to John Edwards and a modernized parody of Madame Buttercup (entitled Madame Budget Cut) that bridges the first and second acts, the comic opera remains largely unchanged.

The story concerns the H.M.S. Pinafore, a British ship headed by Captain Corcoran and a smattering of young sailors. One of these sailors, Ralph Rackstraw, is in love with the captain’s daughter, Josephine. But Josephine’s hand in marriage has been promised to Sir Joseph Porter, “a ruler in the Queen’s Navy.” Comic liveliness and jaunty sea-tunes ensue.

The show is one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s best, and with its themes of political nepotism and incompetence, it is all too appropriate for a War on Terror-era revival. There is a distinct sense of infectious joyfulness, and it’s that sense of fun that propels the production.

The actors embrace this playfulness, playing into the shows more farcical aspects. Tom Michalisko plays a delightfully dopey Ralph Rackstraw. His goofy take on the character creates a hilarious contrast when the character is given cumbersomely eloquent lines in an attempt to woo Josephine.

Jennifer Weingartner as Josephine stands out from the cast with her beautifully operatic voice. While her role does not allow for the looseness that pervades the rest of the show, it is clear that she is having fun in the role.

The rest of the cast is equally as entertaining. Rick Mauery takes a few unique choices as Sir Joseph Porter. He plays the role in a particularly doddering and unassuming manner, and these mannerisms blend into his songs to comic effect.

Kerry Jones as Captain Corcoran is given his moment to shine with the song, “Fair moon, to thee I sing,” while Jon Bohman manages to elicit laughs with nearly every one of his lines as Dick Deadeye.

Special note must be made of Lisa Cobham as Buttercup. Like the rest of the cast, her role calls for an over-the-top performance, but she presents it with such genuine intensity that she completely sells the humor without irony. With striking eyes and a beautiful singing voice, she captures the stage every chance she gets.

The walls of the stage are covered with chalk drawings of a large tidal wave that extends into the audience. The set consists of solely four pairs of Union Jack boxers and compliments the impressionistic and often oversized props that the characters use. These childlike props and sets create a sense of play throughout the production.

The music is provided by a small five-piece band set up at the back of the stage (with Kerry Jones pulling double duty as Captain Corcoran and as the show’s drummer). Despite the small size of the band, they project a large full sound. In song, the cast compliments the talented band well, with ensemble pieces like “Can I Survive This Overbearing” displaying the company’s talents.

Professional in its playfulness, the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop production of the “H.M.S. Pinafore” is a fun, rowdy, and rollicking good time for those who want a fresh take on a classic by two musical and comedic geniuses.

Jacob deNobel
EDGE Contributor
Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Published with permission by EdgeWashington.com

Turn of The Century Comedy For The Modern Fan

Gilbert and Sullivan, classic masters of musical comedy, have created hilarious shows that beat the test of time, but none are funnier than HMS Pinafore or The Lass That Loved A Sailor. A joint collaboration by the GLBT Arts Consortium and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop brought the side splitting stage production to life with true community theater charm – here named DHS Pinafore (As in the Department of Homeland Security).

The cast of ‘DHS Pinafore.’

Directed and choreographed by Peter DiMuro, DHS Pinafore is a comical treat for any fan of uncontrollable laughter. Staged in a community space, both Costume Designer Joan Biella and Set Designer Kent Gay took the feel of small, local theater and played with what they had. The colorful and fun set matched the quirky and creative costumes, and even featured some of the craziest hats ever seen on stage. Music direction by Barbara Schelstrate completed the show and Michael Arichea, a flutist fluent in both flair and comedy, stood out from the amazing orchestra with his unbelievable high notes.

Captain Corcoran (an all out hysterical performance by Kerry Jones) has plans to marry his daughter off to Sir Joseph Porter (a comical and slick tongued Rick Mauery), but Josephine (a stunning vocal performance by Jennifer Weingartner) has other plans. Ralph Rickstraw (Tom Michalisko) as the perfect hilarious hero with a unique voice) woos the Captain’s daughter and with the help of the gypsy Buttercup (and equally angelic and sultry Lisa Cobham), and a energetic ensemble cast. The gloomy Dick Deadeye (successfully quirky and funny John Bohman) and Cousin Hebe (vocal treasure and comical gem Sarah Markovits) round out the misfit cast.

Weingartner’s voice shook the rafters and brought the audience to the edge of their seats with ‘Sorry her lot’ and “The hours creep on apace.” The ensemble cast expertly charged through Gilbert and Sullivan’s chuckle inducing songs, but really showed off for “Sir Joseph’s barge is seen” “A British tar,” and “Can I survive this overbearing”. Tom Michalisko won the audience over with his performance of “A maiden fair to see,” and Cobham controlled the audiences heart strings when she sang “A many years ago”.

Sail away to The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop for lots of puns and fun!

Running time: 2 hours including an intermission.

DHS Pinafore plays through August 13th at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop – 545 7th Street SE, in Washington D.C. To purchase tickets, call (202) 547-6839 or order online.

By Erica Laxson – August 5, 2011

Reprinted with permission from MD Theatre Guide http://mdtheatreguide.com

Summer Adventures

KIDS.  Lots of kids.

Monkey Bars - Photo by Audrey Ashdown

Music.  Dance.  Clay and paint. Yarn, wire, cardboard.  Performances and outings.  Swimming, board games, outdoor games.  Put all this together and you get . . . what?  Chaos, you say?

Not at all, if you’re at CHAW.  At CHAW, you get a Summer Arts Adventure!  For eight weeks every summer, CHAW inside the walls goes beyond the walls with summer camp.  The children get to travel to other lands by being immersed in the visual arts, music, and dance of someplace far from D.C.

This adventurous arts travel takes place every morning; a morning session of camp can be supplemented with something entirely different in the afternoon.  There is recreation camp, which takes the kids on field trips of all kinds, including local swimming pools.  Other afternoon offerings include musical theater camp, ceramics, rock and roll, and photography.   As a parent, this all sounds just grand.  But to really know what CHAW camp is all about, let’s go straight to the source:  the campers themselves.

Vivian with her camp creations

My daughter, Vivian, attended the first session of camp this summer.  This year the sessions are all island arts adventures—Crete, Hawaii, Canary Islands, and Indonesia.  Viv’s camp was Indonesia, and it’s safe to say she loved it.  Yes, LOVE is not too strong a word here.  I asked her why she thought she liked it so much.  “It’s the best because you do different things every day.  It’s not boring,” she said.  Ah, “not boring.”  The highest praise from a 10-year-old.

I attended the Artist Showcase on the last day of camp.  This is an event for the whole family, where each camper’s best pieces of art are displayed and the various age groups perform dances they’ve learned from the culture they’re immersed in.

Vivian’s age group performed a traditional Indonesian dance, and I thought they particularly excelled at the eyebrow dancing.  Repeat:  eyebrow dancing.  (“Very odd,” was Viv’s droll observation.)  The youngest group showed sheer joy during their dance, which combined traditional Indonesian dance with hip-hop.  Just try to picture it.

After the performance, I talked to a few of the campers about what they learned and what they liked.  Azaria Dansby, age 6, was eager to show me a wax drawing.  You’ve probably seen those little sets in stores, where, when you draw, you scratch through a solid waxy surface to beautiful colors below.  Azaria explained to me exactly how they made their own scratch drawings.  She walked me through the process—putting down the layer of color underneath; applying a layer of black waxy crayon on top, then drawing through the black.  Like magic!

Azaria with her wax drawing

When I asked Azaria if she had a favorite thing about camp, a big smile, then, “Swimming!”  This was something she didn’t know she really liked before going to the pool at CHAW camp.

Azaria told me the most interesting thing she learned about Indonesia:  that there are lots and lots of volcanoes there.  She was not quite sure she’d be comfortable living there with all those volcanoes.

I spoke with the Shepherds, Jabez, age 9, and Nandi, age 8, brother and sister.  Jabez said he really liked learning about the Bird of Paradise and showed his wonderful rendition of the bird made with pastels (“like crayons, but better”).  He was surprised to learn there is a flower called Bird of Paradise AND a bird called Bird of Paradise.  (OK, I didn’t know that either).  He and Vivian both told me that Indonesia is three times the size of Texas, land-wise.  Another fact I didn’t know.

Jabez in front of his pastel Bird of Paradise

Nandi Shepherd really enjoyed collage and showed me one of her pieces.  She learned about all the mountains and volcanoes in Indonesia and featured them in a collage.  Nandi liked the idea of taking images of one thing (or various things) and making them into a totally new image.

When I asked about the funniest thing that happened at camp, she and Jabez both agreed:  The Banana Song.  This was a song their counselor made up that they would sing on the van coming back from field trips.  I was treated to a lovely rendition of the number, which starts with peeling and eating the banana and ends with . . . well, I’ll let you think about that.  Hilarity all around!

Swings - by Audrey Ashdown, photography camp student

Next I spoke with Audrey Ashdown, age 10, who was in photography camp in the afternoon.  She showed me some of her wonderful playground images and explained how they developed the film in the darkroom.  She went through each step for turning a negative into an actual image; she definitely learned a lot.  I asked her if she remembered a time when all pictures taken with a camera were on film and had to be developed.  I wish I could accurately describe the look on her face as she thought about this concept.  Wonderment, mixed with a sense of the ridiculousness of the whole idea of taking all pictures with film.

It's the Hard-Knock Life for summer campers

The eight children in Musical Theater Camp were fresh off a stellar afternoon performance for an almost-full house.  They were rightfully proud of themselves, almost giddy—it really was a great performance—and I asked them to tell me if they could remember how they felt on the first day of camp compared to now.  Javier Benson said, “When I saw we were going to learn 11 songs in two weeks, and dances to go with them, I thought we couldn’t do it .”  His cast-mates agreed wholeheartedly.  But, as Maya Bravo and Lily Smeltzer pointed out, “We did it!”

When asked what the funniest moment in Musical Theater camp was, Lucinda Cantwell and Caroline Watterson said, “The bug!”  The whole group burst into giggles “Oh, yeah, that was so funny!  Yeah, remember that?”  I need more detail, I said.  Vivian said, “Someone brought in a cicada and Miss Laura (Petravage, their director) totally freaked out because she hates bugs.”  Oh, well bugs can be kind of gross, I said.  “But it was dead, in a plastic box!  And she screamed and ran away!”  the kids said.  Much more laughter at the memory of that reaction.

I’m sorry, Laura, after producing a wonderful musical revue in two weeks with a group of 8 to 10-year-olds, their fondest memory is you screaming away from a dead bug in a plastic case.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning! for CHAW campers

I asked the group what their favorite numbers were to perform.  Hello, Dolly! got a number of votes.  “Oh, but also Oklahoma.”  Agreement from the group.  “Oh, and It’s the Hard-Knock Life.”  Oh, yes, yes, most agreed.  “What About Do-Re-Mi?”  Oh, right, that one too.  Their enjoyment of each number certainly showed in the performance.  Jill Strachan, CHAW’s Executive Director, singer, and director of CHAW’s annual Gilbert and Sullivan production, shed a few tears of happiness during the show because the children’s performance was so delightful.

Now Vivian’s paintings and drawings are displayed at home, and the ceramics have found their place on the shelf.  We sing snippets of the summer’s favorite show tunes through the day.  Vivian has already made plans to attend CHAW camp next summer.

And I’m wondering if I could gather enough friends and neighbors to demand a Summer Arts Adventure for grown-ups.

— Laurie Gillman

Set Sail in August at CHAW

Sir Joseph Porter KCB (Rick Mauery) "inspects" Ralph Rackstraw (Tom Michalisko) in Pinafore. .

On August 4-6 and 11-13, CHAW’s black box theater will become a ship-of-sorts, buffeted by the songs and words of Gilbert & Sullivan’s, HMS Pinafore, or as we also call it, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) Pinafore.  This production is a joint project of CHAW and the GLBT Arts Consortium.  Evening performances at 7pm and matinees at 3pm. Tickets are $20 ($10 for August 6 matinee). Advance purchase is strongly encouraged. For tickets and more information email victor@chaw.org or call 202.547.6839

The roots of this enduring partnership rest in a successful run that the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington, D.C. (LGCW) created with a truncated version of Iolanthe, Regina Carlow Music Director, in the mid 1990s.  So much fun was had that there was an urgent need to continue the frivolity.   The key to the LGCW’s success was an irreverence for politics-as-usual (shared with Gilbert), a bit of updating, and a gender neutral perspective when it came to casting and dialogue.  We cast a second tenor as the Fairy Queen in contrast to a contralto in the waning of her singing career. The fairies were a mix of soprano and bass voices, the dukes tenors and altos, and so on.  These changes were so easily accomplished, we wondered, could it be that Gilbert himself might actually have anticipated something of this sort happening?  Of course, we’ll never be able to say one way or another.  In historical context, it means one thing for Lord Tolloller to say to  Lord Mountararat:  “You are very dear to me, George.  We were boys together – at least I was.  If I were to survive you, my existence would be hopelessly embittered.” From our modern perspective, it is easy to take the same words and realize a different sort of relationship for Lord T and Lord M.

I had been the stage director for LGCW’s Iolanthe (the source of Lord T and Lord M above) and, armed with this one credential (I was a fledgling director at best), I approached Jeffery Watson who was then the CHAW Executive Director about CHAW becoming home to a summer offering of Gilbert & Sullivan; Jeffery agreed, and so the partnership began.  Since the GLBT Arts Consortium network offered a wider network of arts organizations where potential singers might be found, the Consortium became CHAW’s partner.   CHAW is the perfect setting because it attracts teaching artists, artists, and people who want to revisit the arts or challenge themselves to explore the arts in a new way.

The fun has been contagious.   This summer marks the 11^th production!

Perhaps I was doomed from the start because in my home when my father asked my mother what was for dinner, she would often respond, “Why who are you who asks this question?”  Although it was a bit later in life that I learned the context for this line (The Mikado), I know that from the age of 10, I yearned to be in a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta.  When left alone in our house in Lahore, Pakistan in the late 1950s where my parents were serving in the U.S. Foreign Service, I found these mysterious albums with little books (aka, librettos) filed together near my father’s hi-fi.  I pulled them out and listened to them one by one, identifying my favorites (The Mikado — an early choice) and following the words when I wasn’t up and dancing to the music.  These albums brought me hours of delight and my vocabulary blossomed, adding:  abject, asperity, impunity, felicity, parsonified (one of Gilbert’s words created to make a rhyme with matromonified), conjugally, and so on.   As one learns the lyrics, one finds them creeping into one’s conversation.  One can burst into song at the announcement of good news:  “Oh joy oh rapture unforeseen!” or state thoughtfully, “Modified rapture!” Or opine wisely when hearing of an egregious lawsuit (a million dollar lawsuit for a missing pair of pants, for example), “The law is the true embodiment of everything that’s excellent.”  Half the fun is the numerous, unexpected applications to every-day living.

Ko-Ko (Dean Reichard) assures Yum-Yum (Jennifer Weingartner) that they'll have a happy marriage (The Mikado).

It was positively life-altering (well, I was a kid) to discover that my British father Alan and his two siblings had their own connections to Gilbert & Sullivan.  Following her divorce, my grandmother, their mother, had dated a chorus member in the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.  To curry favor with my grandmother, this suitor had often given my father and his siblings tickets to Saturday matinees at the Savoy Theater.  Later on, a Strachan family gathering involved singing through the Gilbert & Sullivan song book with Aunt Molly at piano and singing alto, my father singing bass, Uncle Stuart singing tenor, and I singing soprano, joined on occasion by mother Evelyn and my sister Heather.  This scenario was repeated in many other locations around the world with different personalities weaving unlikely threads of connection – I must mention, most notably, my friend Joan Biella (we first met in Egypt in the 1960s) who now spends her summers producing the costumes and props for the CHAW/Consortium productions.  Her parents (dear friends of my parents) met during a college production of The Mikado.

It seems that we haven’t been able to help ourselves (a reference to Iolanthe), so we have tackled 7 of the operettas, choosing from the more familiar, and now offering repeats.  Over the years, some things have changed for our productions.   Dancer Alvin Mayes was the choreographer for the first nine shows.  Our Music Directors have included:  Scott Barker, Paul Heins, Lenard Starks; Barbara Schelstrate has been with us for the last three productions and is joined by Peter DiMuro (for the second time) as the director/choreographer of Pinafore.  Our singers now hail from all over the DC metropolitan area and have even drawn international notice.  For two summers, the cast included an Indonesian tenor Dani Dumadi whose wife was posted at the Indonesian embassy.  Dani struggled a bit with the Englishness of it all, but pulled through handsomely with two notable performances as Frederick (The Pirates of Penzance) and Strephon (Iolanthe).  Twice, a major catastrophe of illness and accident has threatened the show!  Both times, we were able to replace the tenor (what is it about tenors?) with an actor to read the lines and a singer to sing – creating a dual character of sorts which in both cases the audience loved.  Last summer, when this happenstance occurred, Peter DiMuro became the spoken Nanki-Poo and Paul Heins sang from the orchestra pit and played flute when his vocal talents were not needed.  Casting has also changed.  Where once the cast was drawn almost exclusively from the glbt community, it now attracts a wider population reflective of our more accepting, changing culture.  Cast members come from all parts of the metropolitan area.   They still represent a wide range of vocal and acting skills including professionals (Soprano Jennifer Weingartner has sung the lead soprano role for Iolanthe, The Mikado, and now Pinafore) as well as folks who are trying this singing/dancing/acting gig for the first time.  In the course of the three and a half months that takes us from initial rehearsal to final production, the cast and production crew become a working, thriving community.  The coalescing of community is recognized at the moment each summer when I am asked what we will be doing next summer!

The Gondoliers are ready for whatever life holds. (2006) .

Early on, I had the satisfaction of being an orange fairy in Iolanthe, but have since become quite content to sing along in rehearsal and apply my talents to producing and learning about directing from such pros as Alvin, Barbara, and Peter and witnessing the evolution of cast members.  True confession, however, the pinnacle of my thespian career occurred when I delivered the spoken lines for the disabled tenor at the time of our first calamity.  Possibly, I’ve never had so much fun as I did that evening!  Directors hold a larger vision of not only what will look good, but how to get folks to achieve the vision.  A formation for a song becomes a re-creation of the Union Jack stripes.  And, who knew there were so many uses for umbrellas!  They protect, they cover, they scare, they add color, they emphasize — their mere opening causes people to laugh.  It is fascinating to watch the rehearsal process; it is somewhat torturous at the beginning when the woodshedding for the music and dialogue is the focus.  There is lots of coaching, emphasis on how to say a consonant or syllable, repetition and clarification – the directors have an enormous amount of patience as they seek the best result.  Choreography and blocking become foci (although one must always sing correctly) and each scene is broken down to its minute parts.  As the music begins to enter the bones of the cast members, the ability to move is enhanced, and things begin to pop on stage.  A cast member takes a risk; or perhaps, more accurately, something happens naturally as he/she sings and that gesture or expression becomes part of the tableau.  When freed, actors create another whole which can only be hoped for at the first rehearsal.  It takes skill, knowledge, courage, and patience on everyone’s part to get to the final production and to be able to enjoy the result.

Our audience has been enthusiastic in its response, filling CHAW’s black box theater for each performance, laughing when expected and when not expected, clapping heartily, and generally expressing the good cheer that is the deserved reward for the cast that has worked so hard.  We particularly love the Savoyards who arrive (usually in a group) and sit in the front row.  They wait for the gags and sing a long without much restraint.

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Oklahoma! directed by Molly Smith at Arena Stage.  Oklahoma! had also been a favorite of mine as a kid, but as I grew older, I found myself more and more aggravated by the plot and the romantic clichés which just seemed old-fashioned and hard-to-take.  Smith’s perspective which is anchored in gender-neutrality restores Oklahoma! to the modern world without making the production “politically correct.”  The thread of this perspective is wound throughout the whole production.  It’s hard to describe but it felt visible and palpable to me.  It was an inspiration and it made me think of how CHAW’s and the GLBT Arts Consortium’s G&S productions have restored these classic operettas to my life — something for which I am truly grateful.  CHAWsome on every front!  Be sure to catch Oklahoma and come see Pinafore at CHAW.

Jill Strachan
Executive Director, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop

We are grateful for funding from the Capitol Hill Community Foundation and the Bernard Myers Fund for the Performing Arts.

One of these Pinafore performers is a current CHAW employee. The first person to correctly identify the performer/employee will receive two tickets to DHS Pinafore. Email megan@chaw.org with your guess!

CHAW Talks Tango and Trash

It’s the end of a busy holiday weekend but there’s still more fun to be had!

This week, CHAW plays host to events that will get you moving and thinking.   First up, our friends and tango dancers extraordinaire Jake and Danarae Stevens host another FREE Drop-in Tango Práctica on Friday, July 8, 2011 from 6:30-9:00 pm.  Open to all levels, the práctica is an opportunity to show off your mad skills and pick up a few pointers.  Learn more about Jake and Danarae at http://www.jakedanarae.com .

Also on Friday, July 8th at 8:00 pm, the Capital City Players of Washington, DC present the opening of their production 70 Million Tons. In conjunction with the 2011 Capital Fringe Festival, CCP poses the question “Can an extravagant director and clueless bunch of classical actors produce an eco-friendly farce in an hour and save the world?“ We hope you can join us and find out!  Performances also on Saturday, July 9th and the show runs until July 23, 2011. More information can be found at http://shows.capfringe.org/shows/637-Capital-City-Players-of-Washington-DC-70-Million-Tons.html or http://capitalcityplayersdc.org/reservations.htm.   Mark your calendars for these other hot summer CHAW events and for more info visit http://chaw.org/index.php/events/:

Friday, 7/22/11 from 6:30-9:00 pm Free Drop-in Tango Práctica All levels welcome

Thursday, 8/4/11 at 7:00 pm CHAW & the GLBT Arts Consortium present Gilbert & Sullivan’s DHS Pinafore $20 tickets/$10 for 8/6 matinee Runs until August 13

Saturday, 8/6/11 from 5:00-7:00 pm CHAW presents an Art Exhibition by Laura Vernon-Russell  Continues until September 1 Free