16 | Santa Barbara Family & Life | www.santabarbarafamilylife.com | August 2017
ETC season to include Woody Allen, Jane Austen, jazz and terrorism
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Photo contributed Robert W. Weinman, a retired physicist and prominent supporter of performing arts organizations, has been elected to the board of directors for Opera Santa Barbara.
Weinman elected to Opera Santa Barbara board
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Staff Report
obert W. Weinman, a retired physicist and prominent supporter of performing arts organizations and cultural institutions regionally and beyond, has been elected to the board of directors for Opera Santa Barbara. “Bob Weinman is an outstanding figure in the Santa Barbara performing arts community and is widely known for his engaging personality. The Opera Santa Barbara Board is sure to benefit from his enthusiasm for and formidable knowledge about opera,” Chairwoman Nancy Golden said. Formerly a board member for the Music Academy of the West and Long Beach Opera, he has also supported Camerata Pacifica, UCSB Arts & Lectures, Opera Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles Opera, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Whitney Museum. He also serves on the Santa Barbara Symphony board of directors. Weinman earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics at Cornell University and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics at Caltech before pursuing postdoctoral studies in elementary particle theory at Tel Aviv University. He spent his entire career at Northrop, joining the company as a research scientist and later serving as a section manager for the MX missile program. More information about Opera Santa Barbara is available at www.operasb.org.
Staff Report
nsemble Theatre Company has announced its 2017–2018 season of plays, the company’s fifth season in the state-of-the-art New Vic Theater in downtown Santa Barbara. ETC’s 38th season features a lineup of new works, from a world-premiere adaptation of a Woody Allen classic film to an inspirational jazz and blues musical about the legendary Alberta Hunter. The season launches with the world-premiere adaptation of Woody Allen’s innovative 1992 film “Husbands and Wives,” which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay. A witty and urbane comic-drama, the play follows two couples, facing middle age squarely in the face, who find themselves questioning their faltering marriages. Allen’s sardonic humor and razor-sharp insight permeate this story of frenetic coupling and un-coupling. Adapted and directed by Artistic Director Jonathan Fox, ETC’s production is just the second of Allen’s many films to be adapted to the stage. “Husbands and Wives” runs Oct. 5 - 22. For the holiday season, ETC will present “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, and directed by Andrew Barnicle. In this imagined sequel to Jane Austen’s masterwork “Pride and Prejudice,” the bookish and beau-less Mary Bennet is growing tired of her role as the obedient middle sister in the face of her siblings’ whirlwind
ARTS & NONPROFIT
Women’s Fund grant replaces DVS playground A grant from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara has enabled Domestic Violence Solutions of Santa Barbara County (DVS) to replace an old playground at an emergency shelter. This project will radically improve the aesthetics, safety and enjoyment of the shelter by fully replacing a 25-year-old institutional-grade playground, DVS officials said. Helping children who have experienced domestic violence is a direct expression of DVS’s mission and an essential dynamic that challenges the intergenerational cycle of violence. Last year, 61 percent of victims in DVS shelters were children. Play is an important element of a child’s recovery from trauma, especially for very young children who respond to stress and stressful feelings behaviorally. Through play, children are able to use their imaginations to escape their hurt and pain. DVS provides the county’s only 24-hour shelter services for victims and their children, as well as transitional housing programs for domestic violence survivors. DVS also operates four 24-hour hotlines; accompanies law enforcement on domestic violence calls; works to prevent domestic violence through teen outreach and education
romances. When the family gathers for Christmas at Pemberley, an unexpected guest sparks Mary’s hopes for independence, an intellectual match, and the chance to be the heroine of her own story. This clever and captivating comedy of manners runs Nov. 30 through Dec. 17. The season continues with “The City of Conversation” by Anthony Giardina, a timely and moving new play that explores a family forced to choose between defending opposing political views and keeping their family together. In 1979 in Washington, D.C., socialite Hester Ferris is notorious for her posh dinner parties that can change the course of politics. When her son turns up with an ambitious girlfriend and a newly minted political agenda, it ignites a family divide that spans 30 years and six presidential administrations. The show runs Feb. 8 – 25, 2018. In the spring, ETC will present Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar’s gripping new play, “The Invisible Hand.” Capitalism intersects with Islamic fanaticism in a race against time in this heart-pounding thriller set in Pakistan. An American investment banker is kidnapped by an extremist organization and held for a $10 million ransom. When his company refuses to meet the terrorists’ demands, he convinces his captors that he can manipulate the stock market to make his own ransom. The production runs April 12-29, presented in a co-production with The English Theater Frankfurt, continental Europe’s largest programs; and provides comprehensive counseling services to men, women and children affected by domestic violence. For more information, visit www. dvsolutions.org.
English-speaking theater. ETC will close its 2017-18 season with “Cookin’ at the Cookery,” a two-woman musical that brings jazz and blues legend Alberta Hunter’s extraordinary and improbable life story to the stage. A musical sensation in the 1920s through the 1950s, Alberta Hunter set aside her life as a singer during the peak of her career to help others as a hospital nurse after the death of her beloved mother. Forced to retire at the age of 82, her musical career experienced a remarkable rebirth at New York’s celebrated music venue The Cookery, where her unique style and salty repartee became an instant hit. Featuring a live, on-stage band, “Cookin’ at the Cookery” is written and directed by Marion J. Caffey and features such hits as “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Darktown Strutters Ball.” The production runs June 7-24. Founded in 1979, Ensemble Theatre Company is Santa Barbara’s leading professional, resident theater company under the leadership of Artistic Director Jonathan Fox and Managing Director Jill Seltzer. Subscriptions to the 2017-18 Season are on sale now and start at $150 for a five-play preview series. Special student subscriptions are available for $90, and subscriptions for theatergoers aged 29-and-under are just $150. Single tickets will go on sale in August. For more information, please call the Ensemble Theatre Company box office at 805-965-5400, or visit etcsb.org. The Project Linus program has been in place for more than a decade in the hospital’s Volunteer Services Department. Last year, volunteers sewed, knitted and crocheted more than 800 blankets and quilts that were given to all pediatric patients at the hospital, including the pediatric intensive care unit and neonatal intensive care unit. “It’s kind of a passion for these women to make a blanket, finish it, and know that it’s going to a good cause for all the children in the hospital,” said Iris Scott, Project Linus Coordinator for Santa Barbara County and a volunteer for Cottage. To learn more about volunteer opportunities like the Project Linus, call the Cottage Health Volunteer Office at 805-569-7357 or email volunteering@sbch.org.
Photos contributed The Project Linus program has been active for more than a decade in the Volunteer Services Department at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Hospital thanks ‘Project Linus’ volunteers Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital held its annual Project Linus Tea on June 23 to thank the many volunteers who contribute their time Last year, volunteers sewed, knitted and crocheted more and talent to creating handmade blankets and than 800 blankets and quilts, which were given to all pediatric patients at the hospital. quilts for young patients.