Playlists

Twyla Tharp’s choreographic power will gleam like the chrome of a streamline fin on a convertible in the South Sound when the national tour of Movin’ Out moves in on the Washington Center and Pantages Theater. Tharp’s modern dance signature (odd body tilts, and push-back reverses) will mix with “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “Uptown Girl” and “Just the Way You Are.”

[Washington Center, Sunday, Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m., $28.75-$61.50, 512 Washington St., Olympia, 360.753.8585]

[Pantages Theater, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m., $48-$80, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5894]



What David Macaulay draws — churches, cities, pyramids — he draws better than any other pen-and-ink illustrator in the world according to Time magazine. The Tacoma Art Museum will show Macaulay and his new book, The Way We Work, beginning Jan. 17, 2008. Titled David Macaulay: The Way He Works, the show will run through June 14, 2009. Macaulay will discuss his work Tuesday at the Tacoma Public Library.

[Tacoma Public Library, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m., free, 1102 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma, 253.591.5666]

Art(ifact)

Regional bragging rights. Office betting pools. Sunday afternoon boredom. These are all worthwhile reasons to be a sports fan. But for the Weekly Volcano’s money, the best defense of sports’ spectators has to be the vicarious thrill that we get from seeing athletes do all the cool stuff we can’t do. So unless you already know how to dance atop a stack of chairs or juggle jars, desks, ladders, and bamboo with your feet, you’ll want to check out The Peking Acrobats Sunday. The performance won’t just be a physics lesson — the acts double as a primer on Chinese culture: The exercises that the troupe performs go as far back as the Ch’in Dynasty (225-207 B.C.), and some performances depict characters from ancient Chinese mythology.  

[Pantages Theater, Sunday, Jan. 11, 3 p.m., $16-$40, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591.5890]

Rear of House

Kneel down. Put your hands together. Offer thanks right this very moment to whatever deity you desire that you don’t live in the imaginary Tuna, Texas. The Lakewood Players — specifically artistic directors Marcus Walker and Scott Campbell — will take shots at Texas, specifically rednecks. No guns, just lots of comedy with breakneck costume changes.



The Lakewood theater will present the comedy Greater Tuna, by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams, and Ed Howard, complete with white trash favorites such as the sweet and crafty Aunt Pearl and gun-totin’ Didi Snavely and man-hungry Inita and Helen from the Tastee Kreme, and pinched Vera Carp, P.E.T.A.-obsessed Petey Fisk, et al. Think Steel Magnolias with an axe to grind, although only Walker and Campbell perpetrate 20 characters.



There’s not much plot here: daily life in a small, off-beat town, anchored on the low-watt radio station OKKK (natch!), allowing a parade of quirky characters to soliloquize and interact. It may seem lightweight, but for the actors it’s a very tough job of nine-second costume changes and jolting characterizations.



I caught up with Walker and Greater Tuna director Elliot Weiner for the lowdown on their production opening today.

 

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Although you and Scott Campbell, the artistic directors of the company, perform all 20 characters, do you both have a hand in the production, or are you just concentrating on your performances?



MARCUS WALKER: We have hired a very good director, Elliot Weiner, to stage the show for us so Scott and I are simply the performers, although sometimes it is funny when the director has to stop telling us what to do and then asks the artistic directing team what he’s allowed to do. And he’ll probably tell you it is hard to direct other directors.



ELLIOT WEINER: No, it’s not hard to direct other directors when they’re as committed to the show and the theatre as Marcus and Scott are — it’s a pleasure. Our quick-change costume has the most exciting challenges. Comedy is easy. Quick changes are hard.



VOLCANO: Who’s playing the dog?



WALKER: I play the dog. His name is Yippy-Yi-Yi-Yeh — mostly just the voice.



VOLCANO: Will any aspect of the city of Lakewood creep into the production?



WALKER: We do a lot of improvising with the audience so I imagine there will be Lakewood references, but none written into the script.



WEINER: We want people to feel as though they’ve entered Tuna, Texas, population 915, from the moment they walk up the path to the front door. We’ll have Texas flags out, a “Welcome to Tuna, TX” sign and Burma Shave signs lining the walk. The set will help them feel Texas as well — and Marcus and Scott will be Tuna’s best ambassadors as they interact with the audience.



VOLCANO: Do you believe Tuna’s cheerful view of small-mindedness has taken on more menacing overtones after the last eight years of the current administration?



WALKER: No. We are trying to keep the characters real and sympathetic. Their prejudices and small mindedness will seem damning at times, but all in all they are human beings doing the best they can. There may be a mention that we’re glad to welcome our old friends back in Crawford down the Highway.



[Lakewood Playhouse, Greater Tuna, Jan. 8-18, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $14-$22, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood, 253.588.0042]