Heather Regen
Festival shows one act can rule them all
A musical number set on a flaming oil rig and a sober reflection on the Egyptian revolution, united on the same stage on the same evening? That’s this year’s Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival. The festival’s two productions, Peaches and Freon and #Courage, are an unusual combination, but together they show off the strength of original student work at Georgetown.
By Heather Regen October 13, 2011
Damon breathes life into Contagion
Don’t panic—seriously. In Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, the CDC proves to handle a horrifying killer virus with blockbuster-defying competence. The lab researchers deftly work towards a vaccine, the World Health Organization pinpoints the source of origin with ease, and only Congress appears to fail miserably in its attempt to convene over Skype.
By Heather Regen September 8, 2011
The joy of eating
As soon as students step foot on campus, Avocado Cafe and its delivery-food rivals make it their mission to litter the school with menus. New to Georgetown, Eat & Joy hasn’t missed out on the race to inundate the lobby of New South with its pamphlets, calling out to Leo’s-weary freshmen who need to stock up on CampusFood.com points.
By Heather Regen August 26, 2011
Don’t believe your health teacher: Rubber is not safe
A few years back, panic abounded when Firestone tires began spontaneously exploding, causing severe injuries to drivers. To most people, this is the extent to which tires can be seen as frightening, life-threatening entities. But most people are not director Quentin Dupieux, who apparently thinks that the malice of tires goes far beyond some technical malfunction. Rather, he takes a bold, completely absurd look at the killing possibilities of this common piece of auto equipment—he makes a villain out of a cold-blooded, murderous rubber tire.
By Heather Regen April 13, 2011
O burger, where “art” thou?
The location of HERE, Rosslyn’s newest restaurant, feels as organic as its menu’s hand-cut fries. Nestled naturally into the main floor of urban art center Artisphere, its tables spread out from the bar opposite the venue’s ballroom. The idea of integrating a restaurant into Artisphere was one that excited Mike Tuson, HERE’s head chef. “[The surrounding galleries] really centered the space,” he said. Yet for the art center, HERE’s opening has created quite the opposite effect—though exhibitions may frame the restaurant, HERE has finally anchored Artisphere. Where the ballroom, theatre and galleries once orbited around an awkward space cluttered with empty couches, they now have a gravitational center.
By Heather Regen April 7, 2011
We like Venus’s big butt, and we cannot lie
Although the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrived in D.C. last week, another sideshow act lurks just beyond Georgetown’s front gates. The set of Venus has transformed Walsh’s Black Box Theatre into the underbelly of a circus’ big tent, outlined by thick, red bands of fabric that drape from ceiling to floor. At center stage dangles a performer’s swing, where Tess Trotter (COL ‘14) plays Saartjie Baartman, or the “Venus Hottentot.” To reach the circus stage, however, the audience must first pass through a sobering setup chronicling Baartman’s life in a miniature mock-museum.
By Heather Regen March 31, 2011
Get wired in Portrait Gallery with A New Language
History may have awarded John Hancock and Queen Elizabeth with fame for their bold and ornate signatures, but sculptor Alexander Calder deserves points for creativity—when signing his works, Calder brandished cold copper wire as elegantly as any calligrapher. In sculpting wire portraits of famous people, which lack any trace of a brush or a stone surface, Calder marked each of his wire sculptures with an inventive inscription. Woven behind an earlobe, under a chin or at the base of a neck, Calder looped wire to form his signature on each of his whimsical wire portraits.
By Heather Regen March 17, 2011
Pay to cook your own pizza … and like it
If you’ve gone out looking for HomeMade Pizza Co., you very well might have walked right past. Tucked into a small, unassuming location across from Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue, this new restaurant hides an unconventional pizzeria behind its minimalist storefront. And despite the menu’s mouthwatering toppings—including chèvre, marinated artichokes, and poblano pepper—not a whiff of bubbling parmesan greets hungry customers. In fact, there is not a table in sight, nor any indication of a wood-fired pizza oven. Though chefs in white toques spin soft, flour-dusted dough into enticing, round pies behind the counter, HomeMade advertises itself based on the very service it does not offer
By Heather Regen March 3, 2011
Lez’hur Ledger: Salsa, ¡aye caramba!
“We’re going to take you on a mambo-salsa cha cha cha ride!” With a voice lifted right from Vince Schlomi of ShamWow commercial fame, emcee Earl Rush of StuckonSalsa.com goaded a group of nervous, mostly thirty-or-forty-something couples onto the dance floor, and cued the DJ. Though it may have been dark, windy, and oppressively cold outside, the bright lights of the ballroom of Rosslyn’s Artisphere bathed the auditorium in reds and yellows. Starting this week, the urban arts center is hosting weekly Tuesday night salsa lessons, followed by a large live band that was made up of about as many musicians as there were people on the dance floor.
By Heather Regen February 24, 2011
Shorts at E Street
With any mention of the Academy Awards, an argument about the merits of Black Swan versus The Social Network usually ensues. But while the Great Debate about Best Picture rages on, the oft-overlooked category of Best Short Film has generated Oscar buzz of its own at D.C.’s E Street Cinema. Too often, even the winning short films sink back into obscurity after the Academy Awards, and during the ceremonies, audiences scratch their heads at lists of nominations they have never heard before. Through ties with various cinemas as well as iTunes, the Academy has worked hard to change this attitude, making Best Short Film nominations available to theatergoers and iPad owners alike.
By Heather Regen February 17, 2011