by Amelia Sauter copyright 2011

A Year Filled with Death 2012 calendars are available at www.lulu.com. Be entertained by Death all year long with twelve of your favorite cartoons drawn by Amelia Sauter. Click here to purchase the calendar.

Mr. Puff has been mightily busy these final autumn days, trying to tie things up before the solstice. Thus his updates from the field have been far too infrequent.

But he would like to direct his readers’ attentions to the always venturesome Kitchen Theatre Company, who have two more performances of a most delightful holiday frolic, Charles Ludlam’s zany ode to all that is gothic, The Mystery of Irma Vep. You have two last chances to catch this madcap mash-note to the weird, the haunted and the darkly romantic.

KTC has used the sobriquet “boys in dresses” to advert their latest, and indeed part of the fun is to see the sublime Jesse Bush and ravishing Tony Roach in the voluptuous draperies of costumier Lisa Boquist. The boys glide in these over-sized homages to feminine pulchritude like floats at the Rose Bowl parade.

Irma Vep’s primary genesis is the great Rebecca (du Maurier and Hitchcock’s film) but there are shout-outs to the whole range of Victorian and Edwardian drawing-room horror (werewolves, vampires, mummies and even witches), the moors of the Brontë sisters, Gaslight, the Scottish play, and much more.

Bush is sly and insidious as the maid Jane Twisden, with a slight nasal twang and a supercilious attitude that delightfully mixes the viciousness of Edith Evans in Rebecca with the tart sauciness of young Angela Lansbury from Gaslight.

Roach as Lady Enid Hillcrest uncertain ingénue who proves to have a spine of steel, flutters, produces at a pin-drop a delicate moue, and has a particularly devilish way with a swoon. Bush partners him with particularly fey bonhomie as Lord Hillcrest.

Roach also gets to essay the wooden-legged, brogue-ridden and roguish Nicodemus Underwood, as well as an ancient Egyptian princess (complete with tiny fake breasts) and a bizarre Egyptian guide, Alcazar.

Much of the delight in the evening is the quick changes as the two actors bring this zany crew to life. Sharp direction by Rachel Lampert and a lovely sound scape from Leslie Greene.

You can catch the final perfs Sat Dec 17 at 8 pm and Sun Dec 18 at 4 pm at the Kitchen Theatre. (kitchentheatre.org)

“…Many shows don’t hold up on a second viewing. This one does. Re-experiencing Huff’s tale of two Chicago beat cops caught up in a toxic tangle of crime, loyalty and protection is akin to rewatching one of the better episodes of TV’s ‘The Wire’ or ‘Deadwood.’” Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

For its second outing in its second season, The Reader’s Theatre is mounting Keith Huff’s A Steady Rain (recently seen on Broadway with Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman.) Starring Junito Cubero and Tim Perry under the direction of Artistic Director Anne Marie Cummings, the play runs one weekend only: Fri & Sat, Dec 2 & 3 at 8 pm and Sun Dec 4 at 6:30 pm at The SPACE at Greenstar. Ticket reservations can be made at 607.217.6272.
Two Chicago cops, best friends since childhood, take a domestic disturbance call that puts their friendship on the line in this “pressure cooker” of a play. The “hardscrabble street vernacular” (Time Out Chicago) may be reminiscent of another Chicagoan (Mamet), but Huff has his own unique voice. As Cummings puts it “The result is a difficult journey into a moral gray area where trust and loyalty struggle for survival.”
As usual, Cummings is adding live musical accompaniment to the production; A Steady Rain features blues guitarist Pete Panek. Cornell professor Richard Polenberg will comment on the play’s issues after each performance.
For more information go to www.thereaderstheatre.com

The following is a statement by the members of Occupy Ithaca:

ON SEPTEMBER 17, 2011, hundreds of people of all ages, classes, races, and incomes marched on Wall Street in New York City and convened in Zuccotti Park, where they set up a cooperative living space that would allow them the freedom of assembly they needed to being a long-term discussion on how to restore and foster a more equitable distribution of economic wealth and resources amongst American people. This protest was a continuation of a long tradition of occupation style protest and was similar in spirit and tactic to the Arab Spring. All year, similar occupations have sprung up in all over the world in towns and cities of all sizes.

Beginning at 1pm Monday, November 21, 2011, the people of Occupy Ithaca have begun an occupation at Dewitt Park.  We have taken this step for many reasons, but all these reasons spring from the same root problem: we live in a world where corporate profit is served as the highest good in all matters, local and global, foreign and domestic. The amount of human suffering and damage done to our environment as a result is staggering and unacceptable, and if not reversed or altered, is likely to lead to imminent global crises that will intensify as time progresses. We intend to spend occupation time reflecting on how the primary and unbridled pursuit of profit as the highest social good affects our community here in Ithaca and how we can plan action to alter this pursuit, change its course, and soothe the wounds it causes in the meantime.

We are occupying in solidarity with the movement which has spread like wildfire across this country and captured the hearts and imaginations of people across the globe.  We stand in solidarity with the people of Egypt and the other countries of the Arab Spring who stood together during the January 25th Movement in Tahrir Square and the many martyrs who laid down their lives for freedom.  Our hearts are heavy as new martyrs are killed in the square, fighting the military and police who have stolen their revolution.

We stand with the 1st indigenous peoples of the country who have been living under occupation for over 500 years, whoseland was stolen and whose ancestors were all but wiped out.  These are the same people who taught our founding fathers about democracy and inspire the horizontal democracy being used by the Occupy Movement today.  We recognize that we are guests hear on this land and we seek to honor and respect the knowledge and sacrifice of the Haudenashanee people to whom this land belongs.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Greece, Italy, Spain, and elsewhere in Europe who are about to have severe enforced austerity measures imposed upon them by an initiative known as the Goldman Sachs Project.

We stand with those who live on the margins of our society, from the people who call the jungle their home to the farmworkers who work to grow our food.  We stand with those who had to leave their land and their homes behind when they fled militarized violence and political persecution.  The unemployed and the veterans who have sacrificed so much only to be forgotten in their time of need by the country they were sworn to protect.  We stand with women and children who bear the brunt of budget cuts and violence in our society and with all others who are vulnerable.

We stand with the African American community whose ancestors were stolen from their land and brought here against their will, and the many millions who died on the middle passage before even stepping foot on this land.  This is a community that was beaten and murdered in their struggle for equality and raised the powerful example that informs our movement today.  Who have seen justice deferred on every front and are the last to be invited to the table, but the first to feel the cruelty of economic stagnation and downturn. Who take for granted that, based only on the color of their skin, they could be the target of detention, arrest, violence or murder by the police at any time.  This was brought home last year when Ithaca community member Shawn Greenwood was gunned down by an IPD officer, and again this year when Keith Shumway was killed. From henceforth, we name this park Shawn Greenwood Park.
We invite all to join us in our 24 hour vigil for justice and support us by helping to occupy our park.  We also invite those who can’t spend the night with us for reasons of health, employment, criminal record, and family obligations to join the conversation, to bring supplies, get the word out to your friends and family, and bring to bear any the skills or assets that you have to support the movement.  It will be a long winter and we will need all the support we can get.

We would also like to ask forgiveness from our new neighbors who have been informed after the fact of our decision to occupy this park.   This movement is about empowering people to take action, sometimes action that is not popular, to convey our message and to meet each other’s needs.  We will maintain an open door policy and will make ourselves available to our neighbors day and night to address any questions or concerns that may arise.  We will do our utmost to maintain the park as a clean, safe and welcoming environment, and we wish above all else to be good neighbors.

The consensus based model of self-governance that has been adopted in New York City, Ithaca, and everywhere Occupiers practice, is an important part of our effort. The fact that only a few thousand people turned out to vote in this last election shows that most Ithacans are not participating in the current electoral and democratic process. We have the highest respect for our elected officials, but a healthy community needs the voices and participation of all its people in order to thrive. The open inclusiveness of the process empowers all people of all backgrounds and classes with representation, a voice, and a true vote that directly affects any action the Occupation chooses to take. Austerity cuts and shrinking budgets mean ever fewer resources will be available to help low-income residents in the years to come, and as such, it is essential that we begin the process of learning to help provide each other with food, education, representation, and sustained social, psychological and emotional support.

We invite the City of Ithaca to join the conversation.  We hold our community to a high standard and believe ourselves to be progressive in many ways; however, many of the economic and justice issues being raised by the Occupy Movement are of great concern in our community as well.  Over the coming days, weeks and months we will be communicating with you about specific grievances and solutions for residents of the City of Ithaca.  Again, we have an open door policy and will address any questions or concerns that arise in an open and transparent manner.

To the IPD, please realize that we are fighting for economic equity for all.  We realize that union benefits, wages and pensions are being attacked across the country, and so we feel we are working for you as well.  Whether or not you agree with this, please remember that we are citizens and taxpayers, and as such, the nature of your work is to protect us, and as such we respectfully request that you restrain from acts of physical or psychological violence directed toward citizens of Ithaca and those choosing to exercise their 1st Amendment Rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

We proceed with these simple principles: people over profit, human rights over corporate greed. We look forward to the conversations, opportunities, and great changes that await us all in the months and years ahead.

For one weekend only, catch the Ithaca premiere of Macarthur Genius award winner Sarah Ruhl’s Late: A Cowboy Song, a whimsical romantic triangle that presents a fable of a young woman married to her grade school sweetheart, yet yearning for the open skies promised by a Pittsburgh cowboy/girl named “Red.”
The play kicks off Incognita’s third season, and features the Ithaca debut of director Victoria Apodaca. The cast includes Abby J Smith as Mary and Brian Kolczynski as Crick (the young couple) with Siobhan Whalen as the mysterious, guitar-strumming Red.
Late takes stage at The Space at Greenstar, one weekend only, Fri-Sun, Nov 18-20. Evening performances are 8 pm on Fri & Sat, and 7 pm on Sun, with matinees at 2 pm on Sat and Sun. Seating is very limited. Advance tickets are just $10, available through Ticket Center Ithaca (607.273.4497). Tickets at the door will be $15.
The play is an early work by one of the nation’s hottest playwrights. Sarah Ruhl is the author of two plays recently seen in Ithaca, Eurydice and The Clean House and was a student of renowned playwright and Cornell alum Paula Vogel.
Famed drama critic Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune said of the Chicago premiere, “If you are drawn to Ruhl, there is a rare moment here in this little room to better understand her genesis, the insecurities that spawned her astonishing inherent theatricality.”
The play has “huge things to say about relationships, love, the elusiveness of happiness and, to a more subtle degree, the touchy subject of gender roles in society and the gendering of intersex babies. But it’s told so simply and directly that it tugs at the heartstrings and connects with the soul…” (New City Stage)
“Sarah Ruhl has been on my short list for years,” says Ross Haarstad, Incognita’s Artistic Director. “When I asked Vicky Apodaca to come on board, this was the first play she suggested, and I jumped at it.”
Seating is limited so advance purchases are encouraged.

Lithe and animated, Karen Pittman fills the Kitchen Theatre with a dozen or more characters as she brings to life playwright-actor Charlayne Woodard’s adolescence in Neat, playing through this weekend.

Neat is the second of Woodard’s autobiographical solo works to be performed at the Kitchen. Pretty Fire dealt with Woodard’s young childhood, especially her summers down south with her grandparents and her relationship to her sister. The ‘pretty fire’ of the title refers to a cross burning, which the child could only interpret as ‘pretty.’ Neat jumps forward to the teenager growing up in a middle-class black household in Albany, NY in the later 60s.

Neat is also the nickname of her Aunt Beneatha, who is brain-damaged as the result of an accidental childhood poisoning. The narrative, while rooted in Charlayne’s viewpoint, deftly entwines two coming of age stories as we also experience the upheaval in Neat’s life when she and grandma come to live in Albany and when, later, the eternally ‘innocent’ Neat gets pregnant—and proves to definitely have a mind of her own.

Charlayne’s attitudes toward Neat shift from childhood adoration for a fearless, tough playmate, to teenage embarrassment to be associated with someone different and “uncool”, to a growing awareness of Neat as both a fellow rebel negotiating a bewildering, sometimes hostile world and as someone completely separate and fully human.

This arc is set neatly against the burgeoning political awareness of Charlayne, who moves from wanting desperately to belong to a group of white and Jewish girls at her school to fighting to bring black literature to her high school library and adopting Angela Davis as a role model—plus her own brushes with sex, boys, and being ‘bad’.

Under Sarah Lampert Hoover’s typically adroit direction, Pittman makes each incident burst to life, with fine attention to shifting ages and attitudes. Sections set a the high school auditorium under assault by riot police, a teenage party, and a blizzard are particularly breathtaking. Pittman/Hoover also have plenty of fun with the men occasionally portrayed (Pittman has an amazing pitch range, with a velvety baritone at her command.)

A graceful set and lights from E.D. Intemann, with a backdrop of windows with distinctly different white curtains, and a floor flooded with colorful streaks that hint at red clay nd sky alike, catches the tenor of Woodard’s script superbly.

Not so the thick soundscape of Lesley Greene, which verves away from the theatrical into the cinematic. This desire to “enact” each possible detail also seeps into Pittman’s performance and pacing.

The Kitchen production, beautiful, funny and moving as it can be, falls short of Woodard’s writing. There is a strong element of magical realism in this story, and the tone eludes director and performer in this case, most evident in the uncertain cadences which end  each act.

I believe it is in part a distrust of simple storytelling; an unwillingness to  back off the ‘acting’ and keep a narrative voice at center; a distrust, for lack of a better word, simplicity. Sometimes the language itself is enough to carry us into another world as an audience. Yet plays at the Kitchen, while most often engaging, too often favor bold over intimate in their delivery. Sometimes less is really more.

Yet still Neat is a rich story, anchored by a strong performance and worth a trip.

Franklin Crawford's long-anticipated "Aesop Cop Vol. 1" is out now, and the author will stop by for a reading at Buffalo Street Books Saturday, November 5, at 3:00 p.m. Image provided

TINY TOWN NEWS editor and bon vivant Franklin Crawford will stop by Buffalo Street Books Saturday to read from “Aesop Cop Vol. 1,” a collection of poems based on Mr. Crawford’s scanning of police radio, illustrated by Rigel Stuhmiller, a Berkeley CA artist.

The pieces in the book originally appeared in tinytowntimes.com, a blog dedicated to “Tiny News for Ithacan-Americans Everywhere.” Duly recorded, these oddball transgressions are handled with a charmingly light touch; the verses are often as absurd as the police report. Mr. Crawford has also promised/threatened that one or two of the verses may be set to music.

We caught up with the always insightful and entertaining editor over email.

Q: The new book “Aesop Cop” transforms Ithaca’s petty crimes into poetry! What is it about the police blotter that lends itself so nicely to short moral stories?
Franklin Crawford: The seething churn of human comedy is no more apparent than in that category of civilized foibles we call Crime. It is the most popular section in any daily news. To me, there is something inherently poetic about a decision to break the law. Unless you are a true sociopath, the decision to take the risk of getting away with something one knows is “wrong” as determined by Greater Society, is one of the most important acts a person can make. You go against a peanut gallery in your head as well as a very real Authority. The consequences are often severe; the payoffs usually minimal. My main interest is petty crimes. The big stuff, well, that’s not what tinytowntimes.com is all about. But even in the decision to steal a candy bar, we bring 10,000 years of drama into the moment.

Q: The crimes range from public urination and graffiti to something involving a dead weasel! Does the verse come to you in a flash or do you winnow the possible subjects down?

Crawford: Jeepers, Luke, did you read it? Definitely flash verse. It’s Aesop Cop does the writing, often referring to himself in third person. I love improv and when it works you get the same thrill as (I imagine) a petty thief gets from filching. You get away with something for nothing. I go back over them a couple times, especially in more complicated stories. In the end, if something – particularly the rhythm – is not clicking, I ask for help.

Q: Tell me about the artist involved.

Crawford: Rigel Stuhmiller is an illustrator who I met earlier this century -and what a lucky guy am I. She is a super-talented artist but what sends her into that upper echelon of creative demi-gods is her wonderful sense of humor. She understood Aesop Cop right off the bat, no need to explain. The joy of doing Aesop for me is sending these often ridiculous verse off to her and receiving Rigel’s visual interpretations. She is awesome, as the kids say. She’s also a fabulous designer and created the tinytowntimes site as a birthday gift for me. Incredible present! She’s the reason there is a tinytowntimes. Folks should see Rigel’s other work on our site: The adventures of Uncle Bodie, who is always stealing heads; Missy Hooligan’s Tall Animal Revue; and Big Huge and Little Tiny (a series that died prematurely). Her own works can be viewed at drenculture.com.

Q: The pieces come from items in the Tiny Town Times, your internet publication. Why set the web to print?

Crawford: Well, why put music on CDs? I am not that far away from a time when computers were alien objects. And Rigel’s illustrations deserve to be seen in full color on hard copy. Some day when the grid goes down we might have to look at un-illuminated manuscripts again. Aesop Cop will come to the rescue. And this is better than a coffee cup or a tee shirt advertizing tinytowntimes.

Q: Speaking of TTT, the most reliable news source in town, how is it going?

Ha! Thank you for recognizing our place in the scheme of things. When I last checked we were well over a million “hits”; of those maybe 40,000 are real visitors and about a third of these are new and genuine. That’s not too shabby for a 2.5 year old lark. We are revamping and hope to board some interns to get more writing into the site. In the beginning I did a lot of experimenting and upon review, a lot of it sucked. But several things continue to work: Adam Perl’s wonderful Tinytown Teasers, 3-up, 3-down and now we add a prize a week for those who solve the tougher ones. Folks like the slideshows of local sites and appear to favor the silent ones; Aesop Cop, of course; and short pieces on local stuff only I know about. I like to throw grouchy opinion pieces in there and we’ve recently added outtakes from Cheryl Russell’s Demo Memo — demographic data that I localize with a photo. Cherie ran American Demographics magazine when it was in town here and knows her business. We’re also looking into re-designing the site.

Q: For the reading at Buffalo Street Books, will you have other actors or just yourself reading?
Crawford: The entire staff will be there, except for performers with the Tall Animal Revue, who are sequestered at Bridge House after a rugged season. Me, Chad Coles (who handles about everything) and … Well. Me and Chad. Rigel is in Berkeley. Belinda Cho is in the clean room. Bob and Ike will be there, our new weather people. I hope Davey Weathercock will be there with Olive, the Weather Hen. Best of all the real actors — tiny towners themselves — will be there. I hope. Which is a dirty word. “Hope.” It can so easily lead to despair. The idea of course is to sell books, promote tinytowntimes.com  as well as Buffalo Street Books and to celebrate being alive on a Saturday afternoon in a tiny town.