What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2006

Event: Remarks, Lincoln Heights New Communities Design Workshop closing

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Kelly Miller Middle School, 301 49th St. NE

The Lowdown: The latest in community design: Just keep the kids chained up indoors.

It was supposed to be a coming-out party for new D.C. Public Library director Ginnie Cooper, who started work last month. Instead, the Aug. 9 meeting of the library system's Board of Trustees turned into a showdown with citizens at which—according to several observers—Cooper, board president John W. Hill, and board member Richard Levy all lost their tempers.

The catalyst for the confrontation was a series of five questions posed by Peter Fay, the former head librarian of the Library of Congress's Performing Arts Library at the Kennedy Center and a panelist on WETA's “Around Town.” But the tension started hours before the trustees convened at the Chevy Chase Library's meeting room, when Hill privately informed Richard Huffine that he was no longer a member of the board.

Read More "Book Spat" »

The Dish: sautéed Alaskan halibut

The Location: McGinty's Public House, 911 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring, (301) 587-1270.

The Price: $22.50

The Skinny: Not every plate we sample is so hot. So in the name of service journalism, we offer an occasional Not Plate. If a Holiday Inn took one of its boxy white-washed conference rooms and added wood accents, a bar, and few TVs to it, it'd look something like McGinty's Public House, a drab Irish pub in downtown Silver Spring. McGinty's menu, with its oysters and shrimp cocktail and oven-roasted chicken, doesn't exactly remind one of Dublin, either. But I chalk that up to an establishment desperately trying to peddle an Irish concept in an age when the potato is practically Public Enemy No. 1. So, on a recent visit, I kept my composure and ordered a pint of Smithwick's and the saut�ed Alaskan halibut, which the menu noted was served with a “vin blanc sauce,” wild mushrooms, asparagus, and wilted spinach. The main feature of the dish, however, was completely unadvertised: a Mississippi flood of broken butter-and-cream sauce, without a trace of vin blanc or any sort of acid to cut through all that fat. The sauce slapped the shores of my four-cornered plate, coating everything in its tide of yellow goo—the saut�ed button mushrooms (not wild), the asparagus (all three spears, two with their tips cut off), the spinach (warmed, not wilted), and the moist-but-flavorless halibut. When I complained to the waitress about the dish, she admitted, with remarkable understatement, that it “didn't look right.” She charged me only half-price for the fish, which was still half too much.

This week's story about the fate of the Source Theatre space ("Arts for Arts Space,” 8/11) has some people wondering whether I thought hard enough about the questions I raised. My reasoning was flawed, one correspondent suggests, and my analysis incomplete—at least when it comes to what constitutes affordable performance space for a small theater company. Besides, would I rather have the pool hall?

My correspondent suggests that the projected $3,000 cost of renting the new Source space for a four-week, off-hours run is in fact pretty cheap, if you think about it in terms of how many seats the place has. That math goes like this: Four weeks x five performances x 150 seats = 3,000 seats. Why, that's only $1 a seat to rent the place! And producers sell those seats for as much as $25 each! How is that not affordable?

Now, that correspondent acknowledges that a producer can't budget for a sellout smash—but even if the show played to half-full houses, the cost would be a mere $2 per occupied seat. Still, how is that not affordable?

Here's how. Or at least here are three realities that aren't factored into that equation yet:

1. Even assuming half-full houses is an enormous stretch for a genuinely small theater company doing anything but the most familiar, mainstream work—especially if we're talking an off-hours run. Because at the Source space, “half full” translates to an average of 75 people in the audience every night. And in 11 years as a critic covering theaters large and small in this town, I've been to many a weekend show, to say nothing of a Wednesday-night or Sunday-afternoon performance, with fewer than 20 people in the house. The Washington Shakespeare Company, unless I misremember, played to a crowd of 13, including nonpaying myself and my nonpaying guest, on one particular weekend evening this past June—after a positive Washington Post review of its beautifully staged Two-Headed. And WSC is a mid-size company with a 15-year track record, a PR budget, and an aggressive e-mail marketing operation.
2. Likewise, a $15 ticket price is probably a more reasonable assumption for a small company than $25 or even $20—and even then it's worth noting that Catalyst Theater, which until recently charged $20 to $30 depending on the night, has abandoned that pricing structure in part because they couldn't fill a house that's nowhere near as large as the Source space.
3. Lastly, many truly small companies can't manage five shows a week. Four strikes me as the more common model (qua Catalyst's eleemosynary, for example, or Solas Nua's most recent production), though I admit I haven't done a comprehensive survey. And Landless Theatre's upcoming production of Cannibal: The Musical is scheduled to run twice a week. Four performances changes all the calculus above; anything less throws it out the window.

So let's run those numbers again: Four weeks x four performances x 150 seats X a more realistic 20-percent occupancy rate = a grand total of 480 paying customers. Let's assume each paying customer coughed up $20—but remember, that's not the conservative assumption. That's $9,600 in revenue.

Now what's affordable? A $3,075 rental space, representing more than 30 percent of your earned income and an occupied-seat cost of $6.25? You've still got actors, designers, carpenters, the director, and maybe the playwright's royalties to pay.

Oh, and no: I wouldn't rather have the pool hall. I just have questions, and it seems to me that when I have ’em, it's my job to ask ’em.

If you've produced theater in D.C., or if you've worked with a small company, I'd love to hear your thoughts. The financial challenges of putting on a show here may be something most of us—not even most theater writers—don't think about enough. So enlighten us. The comments thread is open.

Every Tuesday and Thursday (and sometimes Friday), we run down what's going on in local Internet discussion groups.

MPD-4D
On July 31, a 60-year-old man was sitting in his wheelchair at a bus stop when a group of hoods walked up. One put a knife to his throat, and, according to the police report, told him to “start walking and don't look back.'” Then they took his chair and ran away. David quickly turned the heist into anti–Adrian Fenty fodder, knocking the mayoral hopeful's nay vote on the recent crime-emergency bill. “We still have people in our neighborhoods that would hold a knife to a wheelchair bound resident so that they can steal his wheelchair,” he writes. “Does the councilman not want to even have a chance to capture that on video?” Unfortunately for David, “it appears that the individual who was robbed of the wheelchair, was not wheelchair bound, but used the wheelchair as a prop as he verbally accosted people along Kennedy street,” writes La Reine. “Thus, the command from the robbers to ‘walk and don't look back’ - or something of that sort.”

columbia_heights
A man is shot dead on Girard Street NW and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, on WTOP, calls the crime “very disturbing.” But what's really disturbing, according to “Your Next Ward 1 Councilmember” Chad Williams, is Jim Graham's jerkiness. In a 424-word post, Williams decries the “continued violence under Mr. Graham's leadership” and the “political grandstanding” of Graham “over this dead child's body.” “33 Days and counting!” ends Williams. The e-list audience, however, doesn't seem to get it. “Using this death to make a political statement for your campaign is probably offensive to the families,” posts Marcus. “It would be to me if one of my family members were killed.” Tom adds: “Seriously dude. That's downright cheesy.” Williams doesn't post a follow-up.

metromusicscene
Steve wants to get on American Idol with an original tune inspired by, we're guessing, Taco Bell. “To wit:” he writes, “I busted out my cell phone late last night/Burritos busting loose and pants were tight/I thanked Jesus for the glory of the black bean/But looked at my ringtone said what did it mean/And from the sky a light came down/I busted bad like Ernie Borgnine's frown/Gave ten fingers to the lord above/Prayed to the mexi-flavor with one love.” Steve finishes by assuring his fellow posters that “drinks are on me when the check comes in.”

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2006

No public events scheduled.

The Lowdown: Linda needs all the help she can get with those Fenty background checks.

Every Thursday, we round up Pay-Whats and other cheap seats at local theaters. Just so's your weekend is a little easier.

Before we start, remember the general rules: (A) Reservations for these? Not so much. (B) They're offered on a space-available basis, so have a backup plan. (C) Click each theater name for details and contact info. Oh, and you might tell ‘em City Paper sent you.

So there's this Hatchery Festival thing going on, and there are a couple of Pay-What performances associated with that this weekend (see the second item below), but really, all the shows are pretty cheap. They're not letting me in to review this stuff—technically they're workshop productions—so you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Still, it's right here in Adams Morgan through Aug. 20, and it's fresh plays from emerging playwrights—and if you're a DCAC member, even the regular-price performances are the same $10 you'd spend on a movie. (It's only $15 for non-members.) So think of it this way: Even if it's not so hot, it's probably better than The Descent. So go check out a show or two, and then come back here and post your review as a comment. Since, y'know, I can't, and all.

So that's that. Pay-What wise, here's what I know about:

• 3/4 of a Mass for St. Vivian, Theater Alliance. Two young women go looking for the meaning of love, life, and faith. Set in the early ‘70s—and written, if my math is right, by a playwright born in the late ‘80s: Phoebe Rusch is roughly 17 years old. Critics see it this weekend. Pay-What previews tonight and Friday at 8p.m. At the H Street Playhouse, 1365 H St. NE.
• The Disappearance of Janey Jones, The Hatchery. Canadian writer Jennifer Fawcett tackles what sounds like chronic depression. In a “hopeful and darkly humorous way,” though. Part of the ongoing Hatchery Festival. Pay-What workshop performances Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. At DCAC, 2438 18th St. NW.
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Longacre Lea. Ever felt like life was living you, rather than the other way ‘round? Yeah, well: Try being a minor character whose fate depends on Hamlet's mood. Tom Stoppard's breakthrough play, directed by Kathleen Akerley, starring many of her usual suspects. Pay-What preview next Wednesday, Aug. 16, at 7:30 p.m. At the Callan Theatre, on the Catholic U. campus, 3801 Harewood Road NE.

An irregular feature detailing utterances from area stages.

Where: The newly constructed temporary stage at Rodeo Restaurant in Silver Spring, Saturday, Aug. 5.

Who: Martha Hull, original singer for the Slickee Boys and the Dynettes, now fronting Ottley, featuring Slickee guitarist Marshall Keith and ex-Hangmen/Grin/Rosslyn Mountain Boys drummer Bob Berberich. (See "The Re-Form Party," 8/4)

What: “In addition to it being fucking hot, I got four injections in my back on Friday. Deep into the muscle, too. That's probably the only reason I'm standing now.”

“But you can sing!” shouted a woman from the crowd.

The band then launched into Dylan's “My Back Pages” ("I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.") And it was convincingly rocking.

Photo by Jeff Krulik

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2006

Event: Remarks, Lincoln Heights New Communities Design Workshop kickoff

Time: 6 p.m.

Location: Kelly Miller Middle School, 301 49th St. NE

The Lowdown: Tony Williams: king of workshops

In tomorrow's City Paper, you'll find:

• A profile of controversial pol Sinclair Skinner by Ryan Grim. This old frat buddy of Adrian Fenty occupies a high-level post in the mayoral candidate's campaign, but Fenty sure isn't interesting in advertising the fact. Grim explains why.
• In Loose Lips: James Jones asks, Is infamous petition circulator Scott Bishop back in the campaign game? Plus: Vincent Gray has frat-brother issues of his own.
• Justin Moyer on WASA's long-overdue efforts to boost water pressure east of the river
• A indispensible piece of service journalism from Sadie Dingfelder, who's penned a comprehensive guide on where and how to crash the District's finest pools
• In Show & Tell: Trey Graham on the settlement of the Source Theatre saga
• In Young & Hungry: Tim Carman on College Perk, a maddeningly inconsistent but oddly satisfying coffee house up on Route 1 run by a former Army Ranger
• Plus Mark Jenkins on World Trade Center and more film, music, and books

For two years now, the D.C. Library Renaissance Project, founded in 2002 by Ralph Nader, has been trying to get the D.C. Public Library (DCPL) to host adult-literacy classes in branch-library meeting rooms, only to be foiled on the basis of “Rule 7.” The rule, which comes from a list of DCPL meeting-room regulations, states that “No regular classroom meetings are permitted.”

That's news to Nancy Saum, who holds weekly classes in qigong, a Chinese exercise involving breathing patterns and body postures. Saum says she's held regular classes without any trouble from the DCPL for nearly two years in one of West End Branch Library's meeting rooms. Branch Manager Barbara Kubinski says the class is “a library-sponsored event” and therefore permissible. Nor have the Needlechasers of Chevy Chase encountered the restriction: Their group meets monthly in a Chevy Chase Library meeting room to discuss the finer points of quilting. (Karen Butler, manager of that branch, says that regular meetings are allowed but cannot be booked for more than three or four months at a time.) And the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library holds weekly sign-language classes in its open area.

“That rule is abrogated at will by various librarians around the city,” says Robin Diener, director of the Renaissance Project. At a recent D.C. Council hearing on adult literacy, her predecessor, Leonard Minsky, called out several librarians by name and accused them of stonewalling his efforts. Diener speculates that Rule 7 might not be the real issue at stake: “There may be something about the style of Mr. Nader and Mr. Minsky that has a certain brashness to it,” she says. “They don't like Leonard.”

Former DCPL Interim Director Francis Buckley, who met with Minsky regarding the rule, says that certainly has something to do with it. He admits that Rule 7 isn't always applied in a hard-and-fast manner—“There is always some discretionary aspect of its application,” he says—and adds that he and librarians “did say that we'd consider relaxing that rule for groups we were cooperating with.” The Renaissance Project, says Buckley, is not such a group. “They had presented this proposal to essentially take over the literacy program of the library.…They had no experience in literacy activities,” he says. “They're not a reliable organization to work with.”

---Isaiah Thompson

In the race for D.C. Council Chair, it seemed that one candidate, Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray, had no chance of winning the enviro nod over Ward 3's Kathy Patterson. After all, Patterson authored legislation forcing CSX railway to divert toxic shipments through the heart of the city. Patterson's efforts spurred a lawsuit, a battle with the federal government, and a national debate over the role of localities in protecting citizens from dangerous shipments during the age of terrorism.

Gray won the endorsement with two words: Klingle Road.

In the ultimate gesture of pandering, if elected, Gray agreed to reopen the debate over whether the long-closed Northwest road should be turned into a park. The Sierra Club has pushed to permanently close the road, which was damaged after a 1991 flood, and turn “Klingle Valley” into a path managed by the National Park Service. The mayor went green on the issue and joined the Club, but the council, under pressure from motorists, decided to reopen it to traffic.

Gray, who wasn't in office when the council voted on the matter, served up what the Club wanted to hear.

Most politicians would take the greeny snub and move on. Not Patterson, who delivered a scolding statement after being informed by Sierra Club members that the endorsement had swung to Gray after the Klingle Road promise. “I declined to make that commitment,” she wrote. “[I] said that the majority vote by the Council should be respected, and the road rebuilt.”

Patterson figured her easy-to-sway enviro friends might benefit from some advice, and so she also took a shot at her east-of-the-river-based opponent. “I am sorry that the Sierra Club is focused on a single roadway in upper northwest,” she wrote, urging the group to “focus attention on…efforts of local anti-poverty organizations to address ‘environmental justice’ issues such as the disproportionate levels of pollution in poor sections of the District.”

The Sierra Club's Jim Dougherty says Gray's 100 percent score on the group's candidate questionnaire could not be overlooked. “He came out with an A-plus. She was an A-minus.”

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2006

Event: Remarks, weekly press briefing

Time: 11 a.m.

Location: ground-floor press-briefing room, John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

The Lowdown: To be announced: CRIME EMERGENCY EMERGENCY—time to move that curfew up to 5 p.m.

OK, so we have no way of determining whether this is real or a prank. In any case, this is one caller's reaction to last week's cover story. Highly “misappropriate,” indeed.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we run down what's going on in local Internet discussion groups.

Brookland
The new noise pollution: scooters. On Aug. 6, Linda writes: “I hate to be the sore loser - but I have to be honest - I am constantly waking up in the middle of the night from the noise - the bus, train and ambulance sirens are understandable since we live in a big city - but I find the noise from those ridiculous scooters/mopeds and the people fighting or doing whatever they are doing at 3am in front of my house to be terribly annoying.” She also mentions another urban peculiarity: “I have also read about other folks being attacked.”

columbia_heights
In the last year, residents have tasted the fruits of mainstream chains, whether cruising the Nature's Promise section of the new Giant or sampling the new-release rack at the shiny new Blockbuster. As bodegas get replaced by big chains, residents are starting to grouse about the incoming inevitable: the coffee chain. Few things are as divisive as where you go to buy your cup of joe. Debate has gone as follows: chains bad, indies good—or maybe not as good as you should believe. At least one poster asks whether Columbia Heights Coffee is a truly good-for-the-people operation, and another grouses about minority-owned franchises. This all leads to one poster to say: “Why don't you experts on coffee shops pool your cash and open one up in the neighborhood and show Columbia Heights Coffee how it should be done? Geesh.”

cleveland-park
Residents here are needing: nanny-share organizing, folding treadmill, a financial planner, a wire dog crate, an orthopedic surgeon, and self-defense classes for a teenage girl visiting the District for a year. And, on Aug. 7, Ned posted this: “Wanted: Kids’ backyard elevated “fort"/climbing structure, with or without swings. Will pay for transport.”