Climb into Artists' Attic for treasures

By BARBARA FREDRICKSEN Arts and Entertainment
Published December 22, 2007

I know everyone is probably at fever pitch over the upcoming holiday, but this column targets the day after Christmas, when you start taking down your decorations and going through your gifts and wondering what to do with all of it.

That's the time to think about the Pasco Arts Council's Artists' Attic Sale, the annual yard sale for artists and art lovers. During the first sale a year ago, people came from miles around to pick up bargains on art, art supplies, frames, mats, canvases, brushes, easels, baskets, craft items and lots more.

The first sale was held after new executive director Ann Larsen and a bunch of volunteers cleaned out closets and storage spaces in the council's art center and found all kinds of usable art stuff, including some nice paintings and crafts that students and exhibitors had left behind over the years.

On sale day, eager buyers went through the forgotten treasures like army ants swarming through the jungles of Panama.

This year, the center is asking the community and businesses to donate new and lovingly used art-related items, as well as holiday decorations they may no longer want (Hint: this is a perfect time to downsize).

"Sure, we'll take those leftovers from the holidays - greenery, ornaments, baskets," Ms. Larsen said. "Just not the leftover turkey."

She is hoping for some art and art-related books to sell and artist biographies and art novels for the checkout library.

Maybe you got a new paint case or easel for Christmas and are wondering what to do with the one you already had. Maybe you got two copies of the same book. Maybe you're tired of that painting you've looked at for the past 41 years.

Give it all to the Artists' Attic Sale. Somebody else will love it.

"We raised about $4,000 last year," Ms. Larsen said. "That's a lot for a small operation like ours. It helps pay our high utility bills from running the kilns and being open for classes and gatherings we have here."

The center is accepting items from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, from Jan. 8 to 23.

The sale itself will be from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 26 at the center, 5744 Moog Road, Holiday.

Free theater tickets

Stage West Community Playhouse is starting something really neat with the opening of the drama A Few Good Men on Jan. 10: free admission for all active duty military personnel in uniform.

"The board thought this would be a nice thing to do," said Andrea Gleason, who is directing the show. The free tickets will continue for future shows, too, she said.

It seems appropriate to start with A Few Good Men, a taut military courtroom drama where two Marines are on trial for the death of a third Marine at Guantanamo Bay. It has strong language and adult themes and is not recommended for children or young teens, Ms. Gleason said.

The Aaron Sorkin play hit Broadway in 1989 and was an immediate hit. It was made into a movie in 1992 with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Kiefer Sutherland and got four Academy Award and five Golden Globe nominations.

Even though the script is 18 years old, it is eerily current and should make for some very interesting post-play conversations.

A final performance

Show Palace Dinner Theatre production stage manager Todd Eskin is doing his swan song at the theater in The Full Monty, playing the lovable Dave Bukatinsky, an out-of-work steel worker from Buffalo, N.Y., who decides to be in a one-night strip show to earn some cash.

Eskin, who is the one who makes sure the stage lights come on and go off when they should, among other things, is moving to Orlando to be an entertainment manager for Disney World and Universal City, then heading for Los Angeles, where he has lined up some freelance directing jobs.

He may come back to Hudson to direct or stage manage some shows (next year's The Producers is a strong possibility).

"I've done 30 shows in a row over the past four years," Eskin said. "It's time to do something new."

Longtime Show Palace performer Susan Haldeman (Bobbi Melody in A Show Palace Christmas; Domina in Funny/Forum; Nancy in Oliver!) is taking over the job, starting with Monty.

But Show Palace co-owner Nick Sessa promises that she also will appear in future shows, which is good news to those of us who can't get enough of her truly gorgeous voice and impressive dramatic and comedic acting skills.

[Last modified December 21, 2007, 20:37:13]