Charles Donelan, Author at The Santa Barbara Independent

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

B¼chner’s Woyzeck at UCSB

Few plays have as tangled a history as Woyzeck, the acclaimed Late Romantic masterpiece by tragically short-lived playwright and agitator Georg B¼chner. B¼chner packed about as much literature, philosophy, and risk-taking into his 23 years as it is possible to imagine. And Woyzeck is the distillation of his precocious genius, a play that anticipates Brecht and Marx by decades while fulfilling the German Romantic quest for a drama to rival Shakespeare’s force, tension, and propulsion.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

The God of Hell

Perhaps it takes a playwright who reached his creative peak in the Reagan era to understand the darker aspects of our current Republican nightmare, but fortunately for us, Sam Shepard is back on form and Genesis West has got him.

Opinion By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

R. B. Kitaj 1932-2007

Ronald Brooks “R. B.” Kitaj died in Los Angeles on October 21. An American artist who spent most of his adult life in London, Kitaj was among the most ambitious figurative painters of the late 20th century. Associated for a short time with the emergence of pop art in Britain, Kitaj had the distinction of naming his own movement, the “School of London,” which included such illustrious neighbors as Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff, David Hockney, Michael Andrews, and Lucian Freud.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

David Lindley with Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan

David Lindley is a great guitarist who deserves the kind of recognition that his good friend Ry Cooder has lately garnered, and if he keeps making the kind of music that he made at the Lobero on Saturday night, it won’t be long before he gets it.

Visual Arts By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

A Benefit for Heather Mattoon on November 11

This story begins in so many places: Cape Cod and Santa Barbara, but also the imagination, and the art world, and wherever there are true gatherings of real friends. Heather Mattoon needs a benefit now because she is confined to a wheelchair, and is trying to put together a new life without any health insurance. She fell from a window at the end of the summer and severed her spine.

Dance By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 08, 2007 | 6:00am

Modern Dance Company Pilobolus Restructures

Named for a sun-loving variety of fungus and founded as a collective at Dartmouth College in 1971, Pilobolus Dance Theatre has developed a distinctively gymnastic style of movement involving complex, multi-Â-dancer lifts that are sometimes used to create the shadows of larger single forms.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

The God of Hell at Center Stage Theater

Genesis West opens Sam Shepard’s apocalyptic post-9/11 farce this weekend, and you can expect fireworks-or at the very least, long, arcing electric sparks emanating from Haynes, a representative of a secret U.S. agency who is on the lam after being exposed to radiation.

Visual Arts By Charles Donelan | Thu Nov 01, 2007 | 6:00am

1957

The point of departure for this varied and stimulating exhibition is the year 1957, a watershed in American history and culture. Gathering paintings and objects from far and wide, exhibition curator Jeremy Tessmer demonstrates a discerning eye; there is more than historical coincidence at work in his selection.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

Camerata Pacifica

The woodwinds got their turn in the limelight at Friday night’s concert, which featured four pieces, including three works written for large ensembles that included multiple oboes, bassoons, and clarinets. The ebulliently sardonic John Steinmetz led both the reeds and the Adrian Spence jeering section with customary aplomb.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Oct 25, 2007 | 6:00am

Dianne Reeves

It was obvious from the outset that the Dianne Reeves edition of Lobero Live would be a special one. Reeves had not played the Lobero recently, and it is a perfect venue for jazz. In addition, the Santa Barbara stop on her current extended tour was the only chance to hear Reeves with both her marvelous pair of guitarists (Romero Lubambo and Russell Malone), and a full rhythm section (which included Reginald Veal on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums).

Charles Donelan

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