Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 25, 2016

B2 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTMountain Views-News Saturday, June 25, 2016 B2 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENTMountain Views-News Saturday, June 25, 2016 
On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra Madre Playhouse 
OFF THE PAGE – THE NEW READING SERIES 


By Artistic Director, Christian Lebano

We have quietly started a new initiative 
at the Playhouse which is proving very 
popular. Our new FREE reading series 

– Off the Page – is a chance for me to 
hear plays out-loud and in front of an 
audience to help me judge the merits 
of including the play in an upcoming 
season. The series is being coordinated 
by DJ Harner. You may remember DJ 
as Rufus’ mother and General Cutter in 
our production of Battledrum. She is a 
terrific actress (we met doing Romeo & 
Juliet together – we were the Capulets) 
and an incredibly organized person. We 
are now ready to go prime-time with this 
Series. We’ve gotten wonderful directors 
and lined up terrific performers for the 
series through the end of the year. The 
readings generally take place at 7pm 
on the last Monday night of the month 
(except when that falls on a change-over 
from one show to the next.) Though 
the series is free – donations will be 
gladly accepted to defray costs. I hope 
you will attend these shows, which 
always include a discussion of the play 
afterwards. Come help me choose plays 
for the Playhouse.
July 25 (Monday @ 7pm) – 
Eleemosynary by Lee Blessing. Directedby Christian Lebano and starring 
Katherine James (Amanda in Glass 
Menagerie), Deb Snyder, and CristinaGerla (Olive in Spelling Bee). This is alovely play about family, love, and words!

August 29 (Monday @ 7pm) – Foxfireby Hume Cronyn and Susan Cooper. Directed byKatherine Cortez (who was in the show on Broadwaywith Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy). A lovely playabout our connections to our family, our past, and theland we were born on. 

September 26 (Monday @ 7pm) – The Quality ofLife by Jane Anderson. Directed by Gary Reed andstarring DJ Harner. It explores a myriad of ethical,
religious, and moral beliefs, as well as personal rightsissues concerning life and death in this completelyengrossing play.

October 17 (Monday @ 7pm) – From the MississippiDelta by Dr. Endesha Mae Hollander. Directed bySherrie Lofton (6 Rms Riv Vu at SMP). A beautifulplay following one woman’s rise from poverty andoppression to liberation and a doctorate.

November 28 (Monday @ 7pm) – The Immigrant 

by Mark Harelik, Directed by Christopher Cappiello(Sidney in Deathtrap). The story of a young Russian-
Jewish immigrant who immigrates to Texas in 1909. Alovely, touching and very funny play.

Don’t those look great. Those plays alone wouldmake for a great season. I hope we’ll see you at all ofthem. 
* * * 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Beeis going to be wonderfully. It is being directed byRobert Marra who did such a lovely job last year withAlways…Patsy Cline. This show is not recommendedfor kids under the age of 16 because of language andone song. Tickets are on sale now and are selling wellalready.

This is your Playhouse. Please let me hear from you.
Please visit our website at SierraMadrePlayhouse.orgor call Mary at 626.355.4318 to purchase tickets. 


Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown 

Everyday Sexism by Laura BatesThe Everyday Sexism Project 
was founded by writer and 
activist Laura Bates in April2012. It began life as a websitewhere people could share theirexperiences of daily, normalizedsexism, from street harassment 
to workplace discrimination 
to sexual assault and rape.TheProject became a viral sensation,
attracting international pressattention from The New York 
Times to French Glamour, 
Grazia South Africa, to the 
Times of India and supportfrom celebrities such as Rose 
McGowan, Amanda Palmer, 


Mara Wilson, Ashley Judd, 
James Corden, Simon Pegg, andmany others. The project has nowcollected over 100,000 testimonies 
from people around the world 
and launched new branches in 25 
countries worldwide. The projecthas been credited with helping tospark a new wave of feminism. 

Version Control: A 
Novel by Dexter Palmer 
The acclaimed author of The 
Dream of Perpetual Motion 
returns with a compelling novelabout the effects of science and 
technology on our friendships,
our love lives, and our sense of self. 


Rebecca Wright has reclaimed 
her life, finding her way out ofher grief and depression followinga personal tragedy years ago.
She spends her days working incustomer support for the internetdating site where she first met herhusband. But she has a strange,
persistent sense that everythingaround her is somewhat off-
kilter: she constantly feels as ifshe has walked into a room and 
forgotten what she intended todo there; on TV, the President 
seems to be the wrong personin the wrong place; her dreamsare full of disquiet. Meanwhile, 


her husband’s decade-longdedication to his invention, 
the causality violation device(which he would greatlyprefer you not call a “timemachine”) has effectivelystalled his career and made 
him a laughingstock in thephysics community. But hemay be closer to success thaneither of them knows or can 
possibly imagine.VersionControl is about a possible 
near future, but it’s also 
about the way we live now.
It’s about smart phones andself-driving cars and whatwe believe about the peoplewe meet on the Internet. It’s 
about a couple, Rebecca andPhilip, who have experienceda tragedy, and about how theyhelp—and fail to help—eachother through it. Emotionallypowerful and stunningly 
visionary, Version Control 
will alter the way you seeyour future and your present. 

Stories of Your Life and 
Others by Ted ChiangSoon to be a major motionpicture starring Amy Adams.
Stories of Your Life and 
Others delivers dual delightsof the very, very strange andthe heartbreakingly familiar,
often presenting characters 
who must confront sudden 
change—the inevitable rise ofautomatons or the appearanceof aliens—with some sense 
of normalcy. With sharp 
intelligence and humor, 
Chiang examines what it 
means to be alive in a world 
marked by uncertainty, butalso by beauty and wonder. 
An award-winning collectionfrom one of today’s most 
lauded writers, Stories of 
Your Life and Others is a 
contemporary classic. 

All Things Considered By Jeff Brown 

GUN DEATH IN AMERICA 

So many people die annually from gunfirein the US that the death toll between 1968 
and 2011 eclipses all wars ever fought by thecountry. According to research by Politifact,
there were about 1.4 million firearm deaths 
in that period, compared with 1.2 millionUS deaths in every conflict from the War ofIndependence to Iraq. 

In One Year on Average (ages 0-19)

Over 17,000 (17,499) American children and 
teens are shot in murders, assaults, suicides & 
suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, or by 
police intervention.

2,677 kids die from gun violence:1,671 children 
and teens are murdered 

827 children and teens kill themselves:124 
children and teens killed unintentionally

24 are killed by police intervention:30 die but 
the intent was unknown 

14,822 kids survive gun injuries:11,420 are 
injured in an attack

280 survive a suicide attempt:3,061 are shot 

unintentionally: 62 are shot in a police intervention 

In One Year on Average (all ages)

Over 108,000 (108,476) people in America are shotin murders, assaults, suicides & suicide attempts, 
unintentional shootings, or by police intervention.
32,514 people die from gun violence:11,294 people 
are murdered 

19,992 people kill themselves:561 people are 
killed unintentionally

414 are killed by police intervention:254 die but 
intent is not known 

75,962 people survive gun injuries:55,009 
people are injured in an attack

3,791 people survive a suicide attempt:16,334 
people are shot unintentionally

827 people are shot by police interventionDomestic violence assault with guns are 12 timesmore likely to result in death than those withoutthem.According to the Congressional ResearchService, there are roughly 300 million guns in 
American hands.Unsecured guns have turned dozensof toddlers into killers and many more into victims. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com