16 PASADENA WEEKLY | <strong>05.23.19</strong>
• ARTS • PHOTO: James DePietro KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY PORTLAND’S TALBOTT BROTHERS BRING SIBLING HARMONIES AND HEARTFELT STORYTELLING TO WINE & SONG IN SOUTH PASADENA WEDNESDAY NIGHT P.20 Who gets to tell the stories that comprise our shared history? Who determines what defines a cultural moment? Come to that, who decides what is or is not “ladylike”? Those questions and more animate Kit Steinkellner’s play “Ladies,” which receives its world premiere at Boston Court Pasadena Friday after being workshopped at the theater’s New Play Festival last year. Per Steinkellner, the title can be interpreted literally, playfully, or primly — and all interpretations are correct. The play tracks a year in the life of the Blue Stockings Society, a feminist group — arguably the first — created by four women in 1750s London, including wealthy British social reformer and writer Elizabeth Montagu, portrayed onstage by Meghan Andrews. “Ladies” also resurrects essayist and poet Elizabeth Carter (played by Carie Kawa); self-educated novelist Fanny Burney (Jully Lee), who counted Jane Austen and Dr. Samuel Johnson among her fans; and Swiss-born neoclassical painter Angelica Kauffman (Tracey A. Leigh), who was one of only two female founding members of London’s Royal Academy of Arts. In pubs at that time, men — and only men — discussed events of the day; the Society relocated and expanded those conversations to include women. Steinkellner, who also created the acclaimed “Sorry for Your Loss” web series on Facebook Watch, says she first learned of FILM | THEATER | BOOKS | MUSIC | COMMUNITY | LISTINGS FREE SPEECH AND COMEDY LONGTIME MAD MAGAZINE SENIOR EDITOR JOE RAIOLA BRINGS ‘THE JOY OF CENSORSHIP’ TO THE SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE P.21 Meghan Andrews A WOMAN IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING THE TITLE OF KIT STEINKELLNER’S PROVOCATIVE ‘LADIES’ AT BOSTON COURT IS FRAUGHT WITH MULTIPLE MEANINGS BY BLISS BOWEN the Blue Stockings Society 10 years ago while visiting London’s National Portrait Gallery. Inspired by the group’s story as well as its members’ novels, paintings and jewelry, she was unsure how to translate her excitement without sounding “preachy and pedantic.” The theme was clear: female empowerment, a consistent topic of interest throughout her work. Numerous revisions over several years yielded the stylized piece starting previews Friday, which includes nudity and onstage sex, as well as the playwright — unnamed, and performed by the four actresses. It’s Steinkellner’s witty way of inserting her modern-day voice to reconstruct history without muting the Society’s members. Her words tumble out in a rush of sparkplug energy as she articulates her efforts to make history “dynamic” and alive in the present. She says she’s wrestling with “the weight of what it has always been to be a woman in the Western world, and the stress and pressure and disappointment and unfairness of all that. And also the fact that things have gotten better, but things still feel so deeply unfair. There’s this element of privilege that’s intersectional; being a white, able-bodied, straight woman today, you have a certain amount of privilege that your corollary 300 years ago doesn’t have, but the system still feels broken. … There is a gulf between now and then — a gulf and a strand of hair. We’re so far away from that time, and we’re CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT ‘BOOKSMART’ TRIES TO SHOW TEEN GIRLS CAN BE RAUNCHIER THAN BOYS BUT TAKES THE WILD RIDE TOO FAR P.23 GET YOUR OWN... BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER COSMIC HEROES NASA insider and award-winning science writer Rod Pyle discusses and signs “Heroes of the Space Age: Incredible Stories of the Famous and Forgotten Men and Women Who Took Humanity to the Stars” at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, May 23 at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 449-5320 or visit vromansbookstore.com. CONCERT AND TRIBUTE The Caltech Orchestra performs two concerts honoring retiring Director Allen Robert Gross, featuring works by Wagner and Haydn, starting at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday in Caltech’s Ramo Auditorium, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena. Free. Call (626) 395-3295 or visit events. caltech.edu. FUN FLICKS Family Science Fiction Classics features two Russian space films celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space, “Road to the Stars” (1957) and “The Sky Calls” (1959), starting at 2 p.m. Saturday at Pasadena Public Library’s Central Branch, 285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena. Free. Call (626) 744-4066 or visit pasadenapubliclibrary.net. WINE AND MUSIC One Colorado’s Wine Wednesdays feature winecentric activities hosted by the center’s various restaurants, including sommelier lessons, special flights, tastings and winemaker introductions, all starting at 7 p.m. at 41 Hugus Alley, Pasadena. Wednesday’s music is provided by the Jay Jennings Trio. Check in at the courtyard bar for ticketing information. Prices vary; music is free. Call (626) 564-1066 or visit onecolorado.com. <strong>05.23.19</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 17