Stephen Hillenburg attended what was then Humboldt State University in the early 1980s, about a decade before I did. He had a more impressive major than myself: natural resource planning and interpretation, better known as NRPI (all the formidable science degrees on that campus seem to have acronyms) with an emphasis in marine biology. But […]
David Jervis
David Jervis is a freelance writer living in Arcata. He prefers he/him pronouns.
Posted inArts + Scene
Radium Girls Make Their Case
The first decades of the American 20th century were filled with contradiction. In some rural corners, medicine shows hawked cold remedies that were a quarter alcohol and hair tonics that contained frightening levels of lead. Meanwhile, the U.S. at large was in thrall to the burgeoning scientific breakthroughs at the tail end of the industrial […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Scrappy Dreamers
If you come to Man of La Mancha knowing nothing more than it was a Broadway hit and Tony winner that spawned the hit song and eventual standard “The Impossible Dream,” you’re not alone. I myself preferred Roberta Flack’s version to the one Jim Nabors sung on Gomer Pyle. There is considerably more to it […]
Posted inNews
Minor Scares
Arcata’s Minor Theatre opened way back in 1914, so long ago that’s it never been established if it was the first one in the nation built primarily as a cinema, but it was sure close. It’s never been made clear whether Harry Houdini performed there in the 1920s but the lore is more fun if […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Impeachment’s Time Capsule
AMERICAN CRIME STORY: IMPEACHMENT. Just a few years can make one hell of a difference and 23 years can be like a lifetime — roughly the length of a generation. And from the 1998-1999 scandal-ridden impeachment of President Bill Clinton, it sure feels like a vast gulf from there to the present day. Airing on […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Slings and Arrows
You may know more lines from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet off the top of your head than you think you even do; it’s just that great packed with excellent lines and modern society is just that full of people who want to sound smart at work meetings. It’s a magnificent play of the bard’s but also […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Straycation
BLACK BEAR. There are a lot of things movies have done with homes out in the country, from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House through Withnail and I, and now with Black Bear. Lawrence Michael Levine’s film made a big splash at Sundance back around the start of this year (which of course now feels […]
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Is This the Real Life?
Are we here right now? And if we are, can we trust what we see before us? The idea of life as a complete or occasional dream state isn’t new — it goes back millennia, stretching through Mahayana Buddhism to the ancient Greeks and into the Renaissance. In the past few decades, the idea that […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Christian Rock
Before Evita, before Cats, before becoming a household name from the West End to Broadway, Andrew Lloyd Webber made a mark a half-century back in the nascent genre of rock opera. Along with his career collaborator lyricist Tim Rice, he wrote Jesus Christ Superstar, now a long way from its point of origin but lively […]
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Heathers is Very
The 1980s are a decade remembered as a little more feckless, joyous and callow than they in fact were. In line with that recollection is a whole era of teen movies. Some were fun; many are unwatchable now. But in 1989, as the decade churned to a close, there was the movie Heathers, from the […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Overachievers Gone Wild
Reviews BOOKSMART. Unless you’re one of those people who has the sun shining on them every day, high school can be tricky to navigate. Whether it’s infuriating or merely tedious, it’s quite a trial at the time. Having a best friend with whom to bond can definitely help someone through the highs and lows. Central […]
Posted inArts + Scene
In Transition
Thesis Festival Dell’Arte’s annual Thesis Festival represents the graduating MFA students’ transition to the world beyond school — a world to which they will bring the totality of their three-year immersion in theater of place. The four pieces presented are all very different, reflecting the broad range of techniques studied, but all also very much […]