Autumn Art

 

 The first Randy Awards ends with the announcement of the Bronze, Silver and Gold winning Episodes.  Each of these achieved something exceptional in the cannon of the first season.

The BRONZE winner is "A Quality of Mercy."  Written by Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman.  It is the final episode of the first season, airing on July 7, 2022.  It is the first to profoundly embrace a premise from The Original Series with essential fidelity of design toward a new outcome.  A plot twist that encompasses elements from not only Star Trek: TOS, but also Star Trek: Discovery to great effect.  The introduction of Capt. James T. Kirk is also done in a unique and exciting way.

The SILVER winner is "Momento Mori."  Written by Davy Perez and Beau DeMayo.  The fourth episode of the first season, it first aired on May 26, 2022.  The major accomplishment of this episode is to introduce to Star Trek: SNW's nemesis.  TOS had the Klingons and Romulans; Next Gen had the Borg, Voyager had many from the Kazon and Vidiians to the Borg...  Etc.  Star Trek has always presented a universe filled is US verses THEM.  And the Gorn are the new THEM in ST:SNW.  This episode established their vicious nature, and the Humanities clever superiority.  Great special effects, some pivotal character development and real suspense.  

The GOLD winner comes as NO surprise.  Spock Amok wins as often does the comedic episodes ever since "The Trouble With Tribbles".  Drawing from another one of ST:TOS's finest episodes "Amok Time," this takes the Vulcan courtship ritual to a new delight, while weaving into it three other sub-plots in a seam less, aesthetic masterpiece.  Written by Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman, it first aired on June 2, 2022.  As the mid-season episode of the first season, it also firmly established this iteration of Star Trek as something truly special.

And with that I turn my attentions toward Season Two...

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category IX

 In conceptualizing the Randy Awards, I wanted to create something that was both familiar and unique.  In other words like the series, itself.  The ninth award falls fully under the heading of unique.  It is not "The Best Episode" GOLD award, though winning it doesn't exclude you from also striking Gold there.  I am calling it the Most Ambitious Concept Episode Award.  It weaves together other awards I'm not giving like "best writing"; but a well written episode is not the same as an ambitious one.  It most certainly includes multiple plot lines, often interwoven, inter-connected, and/or interdependent.  It can but doesn't have to reference previous episodes and or foreshadow ones yet to come.  There ought to be a combined sense of challenge for multiple other disciplines like props, make-up, costume, special effects...  It also ought to drive multiple character profiles forward by exposing past actions that explain (at least partially allude to) current character norms while offering up critical character interactions that deepen relationships; perhaps even introduce character interactions that become the basis for future conflict or growth.

Simply put, this is the episode that I walked away from feeling the most "Wow" factor, the one I have watched again the most, or the one that every time I watch it--I see something new.

For season one this honor goes to "Spock Amok," written by Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman.  It aired for the first time on June 2, 2022.  This is the 4th Randy Award of the night for this episode.

Theatre J: An Enemy of the People

 2 Ibsen's in 7 days!?  It's a crash course in this father of the modern play.  And "modern" might very well be the fly in the ointment here.

The play of the day was "An Enemy of the People," first produced in 1882, and written by the aforementioned Henrik Ibsen.  It was the story of a family torn apart (Which I'm beginning to think is a recyclable introduction for most of his plays) by wealth built upon an unfortunate premise.  One that modern science has come to reveal.  The truth, if spoken, will decimate the new wealth in the town.  Left unspoken the promise of disease, suffering and death await like a ticking time bomb.  Who will win out, the whistle-blower with science on his side, or greedy landed gentry with all manner of investments to lose.  As fate would have it, the scientist who feels morally compelled to tell all is the little brother of town's wealthy and greedy mayor.

Written nearly 150 years ago in Norwegian, by definition, every English version is at the least a translation, and otherwise some form of a "New Version".  in 1950, a year off his rave reviews of "A Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller tackled creating a new version of An Enemy of the People.  And here we have Amy Herzog's new take on the play.  Herzog is no slouch, she has an impressive resume; however, I don't feel like she was able to do much more than create a sort of loud cliche.  The original was so controversial that it continued to face censorship and outright bans across Europe some 25 years after its debut.  It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to see this version twice.

The use of multimedia was most of the time a huge distraction, and was the floor to ceiling translucent plastic curtain that pulled shut and open for no discernible reason through the play.  The single set was meant to evoke a spa or high school locker room, or gas station bathroom...your guess is as good as mine.  The props were chaotic and the ad lib-ing at times banal.  The lead actor was always on the verge of blowing a gasket in a desperate attempt to salvage things, and his sidekick, one of the most awarded and talented local actors in the DMV delivered his lines with all of the conviction of someone looking to the end and not wanting to miss his supper.

The central idea of Scientists recognizing an environmental crisis and trying to stop it, only to be attacked at every turn by the ruling class/government is a familiar concept.  So it is not enough to just have this conceit on your side.  It matters that you have something new to say about it.  If all you have was written in 1882, then upgrading the duds and digs is a piss poor reason to even bother.

In her rewrite, Herzog took the liberty of removing one character completely, and placing the lionshare of her lines and plot points in the hands of her daughter--a character of lesser import in the original.  This leads me to wonder what else was lost.  Because the character development for the supporting roles that was present in last weekend's production of "The Wild Duck" were nowhere to be found here.  This left performances in the supporting roles flat, at times even bizarre.  A huge chunk of the second act found the audience roped in to participate by swinging holiday noise-makers and cat-calling actions of actors on the stage.  And this is pretty much where I said, enough and began imagining what I was going to cook for supper myself!

I applaud Theatre J for taking chances, I just wish there had been someone in the room with a few more guardrails.  

Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Joey Collins) and Mayor Peter Stockmann (Ed Gero)

[L-R] Background: Aslaksen (Dylan Arredondo) and Billing (Jeremy Crawford); Foreground: Mayor Peter Stockmann, Hovstad (Aaron Bliden), and Dr. Thomas Stockmann (on table)

[L-R]: Petra Stockmann (Reese Cowley), Captain Horster (Nicholas Yenson--yellow cap), Dr. Thomas Stockmann, and Hovstad.

Dr. Thomas Stockmann and his daughter, Petra

Running was a recurring theme in the production.  Joey Collins as Dr. Thomas Stockmann ran on a treadmill on stage throughout the entire intermission.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category VIII

 The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was particularly insular when it comes to featured guest actors.  So many episodes focused on the main cast and building relationships within the core, that even those stories that didn't feature everyone, only used supporting actors.  In contemplating what it takes to qualify for this category, I only identified 5 actors for consideration.  This doesn't mean that the awards aren't deserving; however, I would say this--recipients in future seasons will have had much more to work with as actors on their road to qualifying.  

One of the other absolutely wonderful aspects of Strange New Worlds comes from the fact that it was filmed in Canada.  This gives us an opportunity to discover some truly wonderful actors who are Canadian, and who otherwise don't get much U.S. air time.  Here's a fun fact for you, as well.  Did you know that both William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk) and James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott) were both born in Canada?

And a final thought.  I've included actors in this category who had recurring roles in this season or subsequent seasons.  I'm giving serious consideration to breaking them out into a category of their own for future seasons.  

Like Best Supporting Actor, this category also comes with a Gold, Silver and Bronze recipient in descending order.

BRONZE goes to Actor Jesse James Keitel for their portrayal of Dr. Aspen, the duplicitous Pirate Captain in the episode "Serene Squall".  This is the second Randy Award for this episode.

SILVER goes to Actor Bruce Horak for his portrayal of Chief Engineer Hemmer in the episode "All Those Who Wander."  Hemmer was a recurring role in season one.

GOLD goes to Actor Gia Sandhu for her portrayal of T'Pring in the episode "Spock Amok".  This is the third Randy Award for "Spock Amok." T'Pring is a recurring role in multiple seasons.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category VII

 We have made our way through the evening's celebrations and it is time to announce the winner of the seventh category: Best Costume Design.  A tried and true area of artistic excellence, season one of Strange New Worlds provided a range of possible candidates with one episode standing out for the sheer extravagance of the fare.  However, I did not select "The Elysian Kingdom" with its capes and gowns, pantaloons and crowns.  

In fact, of all the awards I am bestowing, this one was the easiest.  It has two very different and distinct designs.  One was the new EV-suites which in this case debuted on the bodies of Spock, La'an Noonien-Singh, Lt. George Samuel Kirk, and Cadet Nyota Uhura on her first away mission.  They are elegant and action oriented with a slightly understated sex appeal.  They are a far cry for those flimsy, "bird cage" helmeted space suites worn by the original Capt. Kirk and others in "The Tholean Web" over half a century ago.

But the costume I completely fell in love with were the cloaks worn by the Deleb.  These folks wear such sophisticated clothing that there's got to be a wonderful anthropological explanation.  Just me having this sort of idea about a costume, speaks profoundly to its unique qualities.  The Children of the Comet was written by Henry Alonso Myers and Sarah Tarkoff.  It first aired on May 22, 2022.   This is the second award for Children of the Comet.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category VI

 The next two awards move even further into the realm of standard fare.  Award VI of the "Randy's" is for Make-Up Design.  Even with other amazing SciFi programs, none have explored in such depth the creation of the "Alien" race.  Or, perhaps, more to the point: Created MORE Alien races!  From the very first pilot where we met our very first Vulcan, the idea that there are other humanoid species in the universe feels imminently more like thanks to Mr. Spock.  

Another keystone of Star Trek through the years is that as our ability to create more complex and functional prosthetics has evolved, so have the appearance of particular Alien races.  One needs only to review the cavalcade of Klingons to establish this premise! But Aliens are more than fake foreheads, cheeks and chins!

In considering this award I went with the episode Spock Amok, it's second win of the evening, and in so doing acknowledge the Rongovians.  Portrayed by Ron Kennell (Vasso) and Carlyle J. Williams (Brax), I do not doubt that the process of recreating their "zebra" stripes was no less an arduous and long-suffering endeavor.  Unlike synthetic molds that can be replicated over and over and over again.  These designs had to be reapplied each day.  It is clear from the variation in the patterns from scene to scene, that while the make-up crew had a pattern to follow, getting it the same was not a thing.  In spite of this, I recognize their efforts.  It's clearly not as easy as one might imagine.

Best Make-Up to Spock Amok, written by Henry Alonso Myers and Rabin Wasserman.  It first aired on June 2, 2022.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category V

 Category V of my "Randy" awards for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is Special Effects.  This has always been an important aspect of Star Trek episodes and since the iconic USS Enterprise first "zoomed" through the stars, to the CGI revolution that is currently the State-of-the-Art go to.  In considering the special effects from season one of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds I wanted to acknowledge the episode that featured the most interesting and atypical use of special effects.  In other words, exploding ships and stars and asteroids...old hat.  I also wanted to look beyond the straight up creation of CGI aliens.  Certainly this iteration of the franchise does it better than any of its predecessors, but it isn't really anything new.

In selecting the "Ghosts of Illyria" I was most impressed by the use of light, distortion and finally, but to a lesser extent, the grand imagery (the Illyrian science lab, the crazy plasma storms on Hetemit IX.  The "Ghosts of Illyria" written by Akela Cooper and Bill Wolkoff, first aired on May 19, 2022.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category IV

 I'm calling the 4th category Best Design and Set Elements.  It's really a combination of best writing meets best settings and props.  It's sort of the Golden Globe of the awards.  You know the winner here is definitely in line for one of the top three Best Episode awards!  And while it's a little hard to define, it's really not that difficult either.  I'll use as my example that seminal quote from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in the case Jacobellis v. Ohio dealing with the definition of pornography.  "I know it when I see it."  And the same is true here.

The winner is "Spock Amok" written by Henry Alonso Myers and Robin Wasserman.  It first aired on June 2, 2022.  

Humor plays an important role in this episode, but so does empathy.  In fact, empathy is actually another character throughout the entire hour.  Multiple sub-plots are woven together filled with hi-jinx and wonder.  Scenes on the Vulcan home world, images of the Rongovian sailing space ship, competitions from "Enterprise Bingo," and inside jokes aplenty conspire to create something entirely cohesive and beautiful.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category III

 The third category of the Randy Awards that I will reveal tonight is that of Best Supporting Actor.  This is meant to highlight the work of a smaller roll given to a guest actor.  The character can appear more than once, but they are not featured in the plot of the episode as leading or causing the action at the heart of the episode.  So, for example, our BRONZE winner plays an important and memorable part in "The Serene Squall" relative to a sub-plot.  Where as the actor, Jesse James Keitel in the role of Dr. Aspen holds a featured spot in the focused actions of the main plot.  This qualifies her for consideration in the category Best Performance by a Featured Actor.  Actors are also eligible if their performance is part of the main plot but in time and/or scope not significant enough to be considered Featured in comparison to the rest of the cast for that episode.  This distinction applies to our Best Supporting Actor GOLD winner.

As always I include the synopsis page from the 10 episodes of the season as a reference.

Without further ado, in ascending order, here of the winners of the Best Supporting Actor Randy Award for season one of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards: Category II

The second category of my Randy Awards is another single Gold to an episode.  While the first went to acknowledge a somewhat return to episodic story-telling, this one also taps into a Hallmark of the franchise: The Ensemble Episode.  

And the winner is "THE ELYSIAN KINGDOM".   Written by Akela Cooper and Onitra Johnson.  It was first aired on June 23, 2022.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The RANDY Awards

 Clearly, I have way to much time on my hands!  Looking back over this latest offering to the Star Trek Universe, I am going to give out some awards.  In fact, I've given this more and a little (and way too much) thought and it will be 16 separate awards in 10 categories.  Some of the categories will be very standard and familiar.  Others won't.  For example the very first category comes from the praise that this series engendered in the very beginning: Best Stand Alone Episode.  

Some of the awards have three places, so all of the awards are listed as Gold, Silver and Bronze with only three of them having Silver and Bronze recipients.  The ten categories are:

1) Best Stand Alone Episode: GOLD

2) Best Ensemble Episode: GOLD

3) Best Guest Actor in a Supporting Roll: GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE (this is an actor with multiple scenes, but no pivotal role in the story line.  It's a judgment call, and I am the judge)

4) Best Design and Set Elements: GOLD

5) Best Special Effects Design: GOLD

6) Best Make-up Design: GOLD

7) Best Costumes Design: GOLD

8) Best Actor in a Featured Role: GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE (this is an actor with a major part to play, on that appears multiple times and compares in screen time to regular actors--again, my call)

9) Most Ambitious Concept in an Episode: GOLD  (It's like pornography--you know it when you see it!)

10) Best Episodes: GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE

So here I offer a chart with all 10 episodes and the winner of the first category: BEST STAND ALONE EPISODE goes to....

THE CHILDREN OF THE COMET!  

Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Wild Duck

 Of course I know OF Ibsen.  I have been to college.  But WHAT I know of Ibsen is next to nothing beyond he wrote plays, lived a long time ago and was from Norway.  Last year I saw an up-dated version of "The Doll's House" which is perhaps his most famous play.  Having never seen the original, the up-date seemed okay to me.  Of course, it was performed as a period piece and it felt like a period piece.  Enter "The Wild Duck."  Wow.

To understand it better, I did a little research on Ibsen--a LITTLE, just wee bit.  It helped to place his life on a timeline, born in 1828 and died in 1906.  So he was a contemporary of writers like Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, both of whom are credited for revolutionizing poetry in the same way that Ibsen is said to have revolutionized play writing.  They took a genre that was ensconced in protocols and simply broke all the rules.  I can see how it can be said that all we have of contemporary poetry or plays is built up on their heresies.  For Ibsen, it was writing the complex and compelling truths of the lives of average folk.  Not the peasantry.  Not the kings and queens.  But those somewhere in the middle.  The budding professional class and the people who lived in concert with them.  

Hallmarks of "The Wild Duck" have to be complex, flawed yet redeemable characters with idiosyncrasies that fascinate.  Inclusion of religious/philosophical ideas of the times with morally ambiguous intentions.  An enabled roll for women, often at the expense of the flawed habits of men.  

The story in its simplest version is that of two young men, once best friends, who reunite after years of separation.  The one blames his father for their estrangement and then gathers evidence to confirm his beliefs.  Seeing the state of his old friends life and realizing just how much influence his conniving father has had over it, he sets out to reveal a series of damning truths to his newly re-found friend about his life, his marriage, his father, and even his daughter.  He seeks to create a moral purge out of which his friend may arise with a purer, truer, more "ideal" life; however, the revelations only bring chaos and lead ultimately to the sacrifice of the most innocent member of the family... "the wild duck."

It is an ambitious construction.  As fate would have it a young man (I'll guess in his late 30's, early 40's) had the seat next to mine and we struck up a conversation.  He had read Ibsen's plays, but never seen one performed.  He came to his production at the urging of his brother-in-law, who produces works for one of the local Irish Theatre troops: "Solas Nua".  It was really nice discussing the play with him and his added understanding of Ibsen.  At one point we were talking about the sets.  I pointed out that the original set, the one that up and out when we arrived, was of the wealthy father's home, and yet it's walls were flimsy, it furnishings tawdry looking.  Then when we transformed to the working class home, while there was no fancy wallpaper for velvet davenports, the whole structure was solid, and filled with meaningful furnishings and props--nothing that wasn't actually used by the actors at some point or another.  I felt it was meant as a subtle dig between a "fake" life and a real one--perhaps even an unconscious nod to an "ideal" one.  

The house set also featured an over-sized window that seemed to emphasize the changing of time sunlight to moonlight.  He asked if I thought it was meant to emphasize the loft-nature of the hidden upper floor.  This was during intermission.  I thought about it, and then I said, "I dunno.  I feel like it has more to do with the way it casts shadows into the lower room.  Like bars on a cage.  Or a spider's web."  The second act had barely begun when the lead male character burst out saying to his wife that their lives were a lie, and that she had trapped him in a spider's web.  Result!  I nearly laughed out loud.

Of the actors, all were New York based, which makes sense since this is basically the Off-Broadway production lifted out of the Big Apply and dropped down here in the Nation's Capital.  Robert Stanton, one of my Law & Order peeps played the old father.  His second turn on a DC stage in as many years.  All were very capable and gave well rounded performances.  I have to say that I developed a soft spot for Melanie Field who played Gina Ekdal, the wife of the protagonist.  I'm sure my affinity was a mixture of her talent as an actor and the character's moxie and exceptional rationality in the face of her husband's ridiculous expectations.  Which is another thing and my anonymous friend and I talk about.  Hjalmar Ekdal was a ridiculous man.  The audience thought so, too.  Many times his lines drew polite laughter.  But in 1884, when the play was first presented, I'm certain that NO ONE thought his fears and anger over the loss of his moral compass was in the least bit funny.  Between that and his wife's assertive competencies, it must have jarring for entirely other reasons.   How can we hope to appreciate a thing for what it fully is, if all we have at our disposal is what we see in the here and now?

My friend thanked me for the interesting conversation, and I returned the compliment.  Then we went our separate ways after he added, "There is a lot to think about."  Indeed.

Old Friends: Gregers Werle (Alexander Hurt) and Hjalmar Ekdal (Nick Westrate)

Around the family table: L-R standing, Hedvig (Maaike Laanstra-Corn); seated Old Ekdal (David Patrick Kelly), Hjalmar Ekdal, Gina Ekdal (Melanie Field), and Gregers Werle.

Gregers with his father Hakon Werle (Robert Stanton)

Gina and Hjalmar

Old Ekdal

Mrs Sorby (Mahira Kakkar) and Captain Balle (Matthew Saldivar)

Matthew Saldiver as Dr. Relling

Dinner: Creamy Potato and Sweet Italian Sausage Zuppa!

 

Tuesday's Election Victories

 Bode very well for Democrats in a world where election are fair.  Here's a little tutorial for my Republican Friends.  Did you know?

Did you know that all of the people who voted in the red and pale blue portion of the state of Virginia--the majority of whom voted Republican are 10,000 voters less that those living in the dark blue clip in the northeastern edge of the state.  The area of red maybe many times larger than the area of blue and still contain fewer voters.

Happenstance Theatre: Death and the Fool

 Created in the style of the traditional medieval morality play, "Death and the Fool" is a carnivalesque manners play that subverts the natural fear of death into farce through comedy, puppetry, song, dance and pantomime.  The five player ensemble is a resident company that has performed together as "Happenstance Theatre" not for many years.  They, very much like the troubadours they are portraying in this play have no set home.  Instead they pop-up! at the behest of other companies, venues for limited engagements.  This one at Woolly Mammoth's rehearsal studio is a two day affair with 4 performances (matinee and evening).

With little to no overhead, the five member ensemble also charges a pittance for their entertainments--$25 in this case.  But don't let the price fool you--these Merry thespians are endowed with myriad talents.  Vocally, instrumentally (Many medieval replicas of horns, recorders, harps, lyres, drums, timbrels, whistles and what-nots!  The play opened with a marionette scene utter spellbinding using marionettes that the actors had carved and assembled!  

At one point a pair of soothsayers arrived and opened up the floor to audience questions.  One particularly cheeky audience member asked when our current "Monarch" would meet death?  Presumably the scythe wielding black robed specter in the show.  After entering their trace in call and response fashion, they replied: "not...soon...enough."  And the audience was in an uproar of laughter and delight.

And Delight is the perfect word for such an historically inspired, yet contemporarily relevant production! 

Dinner: Spinach Pie

        READY FOR THE OVEN

READY TO CUT

 

                                                                                      READY TO EAT!

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