Of Commies & Kids
Living legend Arthur Miller testified before the Senate last week, bringing back memories of his stand against McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Miller made history in 1956 by refusing to name artists who might be involved with the Communist Party. His ornery ethics earned him a citation for contempt and a prominent spot on the Hollywood blacklist.
Senatorial songwriter Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Miller's visit would be "a lot more hospitable than the last time around." The author of Death of a Salesman and The Crucible appeared with Stephen Sondheim and Wendy Wasserstein to support legislation that would grant playwrights the power to collectively negotiate a standard form contract without breaking antitrust laws. Miller said that young playwrights are hobbled by current regulations and, unable to effectively negotiate with producers, are abandoning theater for TV and movies. It just goes to show that American artists have always had more to fear from the capitalists than the communists.
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This year, the Seattle International Children's Festival (SICF) is coming down to our level with its adult-oriented International Nights. The new series gives Seattle adults an opportunity to see some of the world's best artists--like Mexican tropi-punks Los de Abajo and German puppet marvel Frank Soehnle--without feeling like they have to have a kid in tow. "We're going to turn on the bar light for you all so you can have a beer during the show and smoke in the lobby," said producing director Brian Faker.
Soehnle will kick off the series at Consolidated Works with his internationally renowned Flamingo Bar. "Really great puppeteers like Frank Soehnle are using their imaginations to create other worlds that I had lost faith I could find in the theater," Faker said.
The SICF has long labored under the backhanded flattery of being "Seattle's best-kept secret." Faker hopes International Nights will hook those susceptible to the particularly American stigma that kid-oriented performance is necessarily vacuous and limited.
"Even if there's a little arm-twisting to get the companies to agree to play for kids, they come to me after the first concert and ask if they can come back," Faker said. "The kids are literally up on the theater seats losing their minds. It's not 'Okay kids, here's a little concert for you,' but 'This is the shit and we want kids to come see it.'"
