Arena Stage

King celebration to be held Jan. 14 The Martin Luther King Jr. Howard County Holiday Commission will present the county's 22nd Commemorative Celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in Smith Theatre at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Walter B. Hill Jr., senior archivist and subject area specialist for Afro-American history at the University of Maryland, will discuss the holdings of the National Archives that focus on the life of King.

They call themselves Culture Clash and, in recent years, they've been clashing with more and more cultures."Culture Clash does America" is the way Clash member Ric Salinas puts it.Although the California-based performance troupe has been together 15 years, only in the last five have the three performers significantly expanded their horizons beyond their Chicano/Latino roots.This doesn't mean, however, that the satirical trio has suddenly turned warm and gushy, or worse yet, politically correct, multicul-tural or mainstream.

Maurice Hines stars as Nathan Detroit in director Charles Randolph-Wright's racially mixed revival of the classic 1950 musical "Guys and Dolls," currently in previews at Washington's Arena Stage.The Abe Burrows-Jo Swerling-Frank Loesser musical, based on the stories of Damon Runyon, focuses on the unlikely connection between a group of underworld gamblers and the do-gooders at the Save-a-Soul Mission.Hines plays Nathan Detroit, proprietor of "the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York."

In her production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," director Molly Smith has attempted to adhere to Tennessee Williams' intentions, staging his rarely produced original ending. It's a bold and admirable effort with many illuminating moments.The production marks Smith's debut as artistic director of Washington's Arena Stage, and for the most part, this is a "Cat" that purrs.But while the playwright's intent may be clearer -- in that the characters seem more consistent and unbending -- two disappointing lead performances mute the overall effect.

Lisa Loomer's play about infertility, "Expecting Isabel," which is making its world premiere at Washington's Arena Stage, is one of three plays that have received 1998 grants from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays.The other grants went to Charlotte Gibson's "Lost Creek Township," a play about an all-black Indiana town in 1880, to be produced by Crossroads Theatre Company in New Brunswick, N.J., in April, and Nilo Cruz's "Two Sisters and a Piano," a play loosely based on the life of Cuban artist Maria Elena Cruz Varela, to be produced by the McCarter Theatre Company in Princeton, N.J., in February.

"Black No More" is like combining Jonathan Swift's satire, H.G. Wells' science fiction and Douglas Turner Ward's racial farce, "Day of Absence" -- and tossing in a bit of Busby Berkeley for pizazz.The result is a serious social commentary about American race ** relations, but it's also a free-wheeling romp with plenty of song and dance. An important and imaginative new work by playwright Syl Jones, it keeps you laughing and gets you riled up at the same time.Subtitled "A Social Science Fiction Satire" and co-produced by Washington's Arena Stage and Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater and Mixed Blood Theatre Company, "Black No More" was inspired by the 1931 novel by George Schuyler.

This is the final weekend to catch Arena Stage's rendition of Keith Glover's blues drama, "Thunder Knocking on the Door." The drama, which made its area debut at Center Stage two seasons ago, has undergone several changes in the interim.Most noticeably, Glover has replaced the play's classic blues numbers with an original score by Grammy Award-winning artist Keb' Mo' and Anderson Edwards. In addition, the production is directed by the playwright and features a new cast."Thunder Knocking on the Door" focuses on a mysterious bluesman named Marvell Thunder and the twin offspring of a late fictional blues guitarist, the only musician ever to out-play Thunder.

Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" is a play in which things almost happen.People almost take the steps that could change their lives, or bring them happiness, or at least end the boredom.But then they retreat, afraid to leave their own preconceived roles, which have given their lives order but not satisfaction.Director Zelda Fichandler's production at Washington's Arena Stage, using a translation by Carol Rocamora, ably conveys these debilitating frustrations and succeeds in keeping the viewer engaged in a play about futility and ennui.

The Arena Players: born 1953 as the dream of the visionary Samuel H. Wilson Jr.; died in 1996, the victim of neglect by the city of Baltimore.That obituary is not a reality yet. But it might be if Baltimoreans refuse to support an integral part of their history and let the financially strapped Arena -- the oldest continuous black theater group in the country -- succumb to a deficit that now runs to $120,000.But we can all do our part today by just driving up to the 800 block of McCulloh St. -- the home of the playhouse since 1969 -- and handing cash or a check out of your car window to an Arena member eagerly awaiting a contribution.

We've all had the experience: You sit in a doctor's waiting room for an interminable period of time, wondering about the other patients, wondering if the doctor will find something wrong, wondering if he remembers you're there.Lisa Loomer's "The Waiting Room" probes this experience with a decidedly feminist spin. In the process, the play -- slickly produced at Washington's Arena Stage -- answers many of those pesky waiting-room questions.But this serious-minded, humor-inflected play also falls victim to one of the very criticisms it raises.

Elspeth M. Udvarhelyi, who had held important development roles with several Baltimore and Washington artistic and cultural organizations, and had been development director and interim CEO of the Globe Theatre in London, died Sunday of Merkel cell cancer, a rare skin disease, at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Roland Park Place resident was 79. Elspeth Mary Campbell, the daughter of a sheep farmer, was born in Dornoch, Scotland, and raised in Bonar Bridge, Scotland. She was a graduate of a private high school in Inverness, where she developed her lifelong interest in music, art and theater.

ARTS McDaniel College Chinese landscapes, rodeo bull riding and Superman comic books are among the inspirations for the wide range of art on display in the fourth biennial McDaniel College Faculty Art Show, through Dec. 5 in the Esther Prangley Rice Gallery in Peterson Hall on the McDaniel campus, 2 College Hill in Westminster. Featured artists include Susan Ruddick Bloom, Walter P. Calahan, Emily Grey, Ken Hankins, Trudi Ludwig Johnson, Michael Losch, Katya Dovghan Mychajlyshyn, Steven Pearson, Susan Clare Scott, Richard Stanley and Linda Van Hart.

Talking to Carrie Fisher over the phone is like chatting with your oldest girlfriend, the one you've known since forever and who's so smart, candid and funny about the travails of being a middle-aged, single mom. She's loyal, but willing to dish about her weight, her problematic parents and her exes. She's a little unhinged, but not so messed up that she's not fun to be with. "Someone once said, 'You're only as sick as your secrets,' " she says. "Well, I don't have any secrets anymore."

Perhaps the country tag is a misnomer. On their joint national tour, which filled 1st Mariner Arena on Wednesday night, Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood sounded more like pop-rock stars. The "country" elements of their music were faint at best. But that didn't mar their performances. Underwood opened the show, backed by a loud, eight-piece band that threatened to overwhelm her platinum pipes. Sashaying around the stage in a black minidress and vampish spike-heeled boots, the radiant Oklahoman and former American Idol invoked more of Pat Benatar than Shania Twain.

The piano stopped playing. The actors left the stage, and the applause ceased. Members of the audience began to file out, and their footsteps mingled with murmurs of conversation. Embellishing the usual after-theater melody was a grace note: a series of the short, rhythmic inhaled breaths by people softly sniffling. If you go 33 Variations runs at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. S.W., Washington, through Sept. 30. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sundays.

Mary Martin was an inimitable Peter Pan; Cathy Rigby imbued the eternal boy with athletic grace; and, in Baltimore, Jefferson Mays brought impish charm to J.M. Barrie's classic at Center Stage four seasons ago. But the most creative take I've seen has to be Peter and Wendy, the magical 1996 rendition by the acclaimed New York-based avant-garde troupe Mabou Mines. Peter and Wendy runs through June 24 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. S.W., Washington. $55-$74. Call 202-488-3300 or go to arenastage.

On April 7, 2007, JAMES C. BOSTAIN, 85, of Baltimore, MD, passed away peacefully at home. Predeceased by his beloved wife Pat in 2002. Survived by a loving daughter; step-daughter; his brother's family and many wonderful friends. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, with a Master's Degree in Linguistics from Yale. He worked for the US Department of State's Foreign Service Institute for 26 years, helping design foreign language instruction curriculums. He gave ~8500 lectures on cross-cultural communication to government, military, academic and public audiences in 49 states (missed Idaho)

"It's all an adventure. That's all life is," says the 285-year-old character of Aunt Ester in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. Even more than the other nine plays in Wilson's magnificent decade-by-decade chronicle of the 20th- century African-American experience, Gem of the Ocean is a real adventure story - filled with danger, unexpected incidents, romance and, ultimately, hard-won wisdom. That sense of adventure, particularly in the second act, is grippingly realized in the area premiere at Washington's Arena Stage.

King celebration to be held Jan. 14 The Martin Luther King Jr. Howard County Holiday Commission will present the county's 22nd Commemorative Celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in Smith Theatre at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Walter B. Hill Jr., senior archivist and subject area specialist for Afro-American history at the University of Maryland, will discuss the holdings of the National Archives that focus on the life of King.

Lunch planned with legislators The League of Women Voters of Howard County will hold its annual luncheon with the county delegation to the General Assembly at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 6 in the auditorium at Bethany United Methodist Church, 2875 Bethany Lane, Ellicott City. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. The event is open to everyone. Admission is $15 for nonmembers. Reservations: 410-730-0142. The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed, active participation in government.