PAE's Twelfth Night

Matt and I attended yet another fabulous performance of Portland Actor's Ensemble.  This time they were presenting Twelfth Night.  We last saw PAE this summer performing Hamlet in July and we last saw Twelfth Night with Northwest Classical Theater Company's 2010 production, memorable for the famous "hiding behind a pillow" scene that still makes me laugh when I think about it.

This was a very good production, with very good singers.  And they sang a lot.  Here we get pre-show entertainment from the actors themselves:  Danielle Frimer (Olivia) and Britt Harris (Viola) are accompanied  by Max Maller (Sir Andrew) as they sing "Emmylou." (by First Aid Kit) And this is what I liked about this production:  we hear a lot of versions of "Sigh No More" when watching Shakespeare which is fine, but when we get to hear contemporary music, I'm quite happy.
 

Here Zach Virden (Orsino) sings (I think) "A change is going to come"
 

It's Carson Cook! (who we last saw in NWCTC's Much Ado About Nothing)  He's playing the guitar as the whole cast sings "Ho Hey" (The Lumineers).  Very fun.
 

Okay, the play begins.  Here we can see the ship just as it is beginning to wreck, casting Viola to the seas and separating her from her twin brother Sebastian.
 

The Duke does some bicep curls as he discusses how he wants to marry Olivia.
 

More songs by the fool.
 

The Duke and Viola discuss how she is to woo Olivia for him.
 

This is the famous scene where Malvolio finds a letter planted by Maria, Sir Toby and Feste which makes him think Olivia is in love with him.
 

Here the team cleverly evades detection as Malvolio reads the letter.  (In the NWCTC production, this was the famous "hiding behind the pillow" scene.)
 

At intermission Will Steele (Sir Toby Belch) played us a great sing-along drinking tune.
 

The man in front of us had extra melon and handed it all around so we snacked and sang.  Lovely!
 

 

 

I really liked these chairs.  Matt and I are in the market for new chairs as ours are falling apart.
 

This gentleman sat on his suitcase for the duration of the play.  I couldn't decide if he was coming home from the airport/other travel and happened along the play and just sat to watch, or if that was an intentional seat.
 

Malvolio in crossed garters and yellow stockings.
 

Poor Malvolio, he's now being deemed crazy by Fest/Sir Toby/Maria.
 

 

 

 

Max Maller played a great Sir Andrew.  He was very tightly wound.
 

 

And off Malvolio goes.
 

Feste pretends to be the priest.  I loved how the box that contained Malvolio was broken at just the right point so he could stick his head out.
 

 

Here Sebastian (on the left) and Viola (on the right) discover the other is alive.
 

There is a great reunion and excitement all around.
 

And the happy couples come together finally.
 

 

But before we go, there is one more song!
 

 

 

 

 

8/25 Garden Update

Summary of the week's work cribbed from notes:

Aside from the work on 8/19 (1 hour, 14 minutes)

8/20 15 minutes watering
8/23 30 minutes watering

Total time this week:  A mere 1 hour, 59 minutes.  Alas.

Bathroom finished

Thanks to a coupon, I bought new towels for the bathroom.  The light gray of the towels sets off the dark grey of the walls nicely.
 

A bad picture of the light gray walls.
 

The shelves, with everything arranged.
 

The light and dark gray walls with the shower curtain.
 

Our real shower curtain.
 

Shelf for bottles.
 

Soap dishes for all.

Now that it's done, I'm glad to have done it.  

Sourdough Uses

On the left we have sourdough brownies.  Which were not good.  On the right there are sourdough "soft cookies" which were much like snicker-doodles and were okay.  Underneath them are sourdough chocolate chip cookies which were not good at all.   So far the bread and the English Muffins have been the great successes.  I'll keep looking for sourdough uses, though.  

Cats like laundry

Antares especially is always right in the clean laundry, once I put it on the bed. He does not, however, ever get in the laundry basket where the clean laundry is piled, waiting to be put away.

Muddy Buddy

Well, it's time for my favorite of Matt's "let's get covered in mud" runs:  The Muddy Buddy.  This year, we only had to drive to Kruger Farms on Sauvie Island, instead of going all the way to Milo McIver State Park. This was a very good thing.

Bill, Matt's teammate, attaches his number.
 

There were a lot of things to attach.
 

Kate and her partner were white tigers.  In previous years, they've also been carrots and something else I am forgetting.
 

Waiting for the race to start.
 

More waiting.
 

Matt had the bike on the first leg.
 

And they are off!
 

Bill waits to start running.  This is my favorite race because the teammates trade off the bike and running.  They  bike to a point and then wait for their teammate who has just run the leg.  Then the running teammate takes the bike and the biking teammate takes off running.
 

New this year: female announcer.  She was funny.  I liked her a lot.
 

The white tiger is out of the gate.
 

Kate waits to start running.
 

And she's off.
 

Matt runs part of the course.
 

This is a biking leg for Bill.
 

These ROTC members were ready to help people over this obstacle.  And people needed help because...
 

Another ROTC member sprayed down the surface with fabric softener.
 

Matt approaches the final waiting area.
 

Matt waiting for Bill.
 

Up and over this obsticle
 

Up and over the fabric softener covered wall.

 

Bill is almost there.
 

And over they go.
 

The final approach.
 

And through the finish line.
 

Getting the medals.
 

Bill gets rid of his chip.
 

So is Matt
 

More chip-getting-rid-of photos.
 

Looking good!
 

Happy finishers.
 

Looking for the showers.
 

Mud on the ribbon.
 

Clean ear.
 

Edge, mud and water.
 

Fixing the contact.
 

In the shower.
 

Cleaner ear.
 

Doing the surfer changing maneuver.
 

The white tigers are not too muddy!
 

Matt found some free stuff. 

 

Bill found some beer.
 

Matt found some Ninja Turtles.
 

A map of the race with the obstacles listed.
 

The White Tigers did well!
 

The trophies have muddy water.
 

Matt and Bill did well too:  Fifth place in their age bracket!