Act Out Theatre presents Of Mice and Men Jan. 10-12 – Wilkes Barre Times-Leader

January 08, 2020

Its time to wrap up 2019 at the movies, and boy was it a year for capping sagas, telling real-life stories and showcasing original content. And then there were the failed reboots, the tired sequels and the what were they thinking? flicks that managed to find theater space. For this weeks Thats A Wrap, I pick the best and worst movies and performances of 2019.

Best movie: Parasite

I cannot stop thinking about this comedic but dark film by South Korean writer/director Bong Joon-ho on the struggles between a poor family and the well-off clan they want to treat. It doesnt go in directions you think it would go, creating an atmosphere of kinetic energy and tension. It is the well-deserved winner of the Cannes Film Festivals Palme dOr.

Honorable mention: Writer/director Lulu Wang tells a personal story about a familys effort to hide a matriarchs cancer diagnosis in The Farewell. Jordan Peele strikes gold again with his terrifying look at America in Us. Being by the sea doesnt agree well with Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe drama, The Lighthouse.

Best performance: Antonio Banderas, Pain & Glory

Whenever Banderas works with director Pedro Almodvar, magic happens, but this time is extra special as they both tone down their styles in this semi-biographical film about the filmmaker. The performance is like Banderas is breathing in Almodvars essence and swirling it into actions powered by emotions.

Honorable mention: Adam Driver in Marriage Story turned this cinephile into a fan, and the actor had a very busy 2019 with appearances in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Report and The Dead Dont Die. Renee Zellweger remained audiences of how talented she is as she played beloved but troubled star Judy Garland in Judy. Joe Pesci breaks his retirement for his subtle performance as real-life Northeastern Pennsylvania gangster Russell Bufalino in The Irishman.

Best breakthrough: Jonathan Majors, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

While Jimmie Falls is the star of the compelling drama based on his life, Majors prevails in this picture through his wide range as Jimmes supportive friend. Helping his buddy who tries to return to his childhood home that his father, Majors (as Montgomery) begins as the sympathetic observer and rises to the confrontational force the storyline needed. Honorable mention: Margaret Quallery held her own as Mason family member Pussycat in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Florence Pugh gave exceptional performances in two very different films, Midsommar and Little Women.

Best casting: Dolemite Is My Name

Not only did this Netflix comedy serve as the perfect comeback vehicle for Eddie Murphy, it elevated others who are now building their own names, much like Rudy Ray Moore did when he was making Dolemite. Wesley Snipes deserves more accolades for his performance as the jaded actor DUrville Martin and DaVine Joy Randolph is a force of talent as newcomer Lady Reed.

Honorable mention: Putting Adam Sandler in the role of a gambling-addicted jeweler and former NBA star Kevin Garnett as himself in the Safdie Brothers Uncut Gems was a genius move. If the directors had gotten their first pick, Kobe Bryant, this movie would have been a disaster. With the exception of Daniel Craigs southern fried accent, the casting for Knives Out was pleasantly weird and seriously stacked with talent.

Best campy movie: Velvet Buzzsaw

It was the Netflix movie that divided #FilmTwitter, but Velvet Buzzsaw was one of only five 2019 movies to which I gave five stars. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo, the art scene in Los Angeles is a horror show as works begin to kill people. Its only the only five-star movie I would not recommend to others. Its not for everyone.

Honorable mention: If you ever wanted to see an acclaimed French actress play a psycho biddy, watch Greta with Isabella Huppert and Chlo Grace Moretz. Bromance action flick War combines all the cheesy elements of a Fast and Furious movie, a Die Hard sequel and a Jean-Claude Van Damme title and saves room for one or two Bollywood musical numbers. Aging up a beloved animated character for a live-action film results in the oh-so-sweet kids movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Its the campy equivalent to 2018s Bumblebee.

Better luck next time: The other streaming movies

Much attention in 2019 was made to Netflixs The Irishman, Marriage Story and The Two Popes, but not all the streaming titles struck gold last year. Among the worst were Hulus Into The Dark series of horror films that were only scary because someone greenlit them to be made. Even Academy Award-winning directors released some duds, including Steven Soderbergh with The Laundromat. The comedy on the Panama Papers was more like a boring economics class with Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas.

Honorable mention: Horror reboots and sequels were without life like Childs Play and Annabelle Come Home. Climax, a French film about an acid trip that tears apart a dance troupe, had the wrong moves. Bombshell, with its all-star cast and subject matter that is very current, offered no new insight, and perhaps even worse, gain sympathy for the women who were wronged in the Roger Ailes scandal.

Adam Driver appears in the family drama, Marriage Story.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_marriagestory-1.jpgAdam Driver appears in the family drama, Marriage Story. Netflix

Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff star in the Hindi action flick, War.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_warmovie-1.jpgHrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff star in the Hindi action flick, War. Yash Raj Films

Jonathan Majors plays Montgomery in the moving drama, The Last Black Man in San Francisco.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_Jonathan-Majors-Last-Black-Man-1.jpgJonathan Majors plays Montgomery in the moving drama, The Last Black Man in San Francisco. A24

Awkwafina accepts the award for best actress in a motion picture comedy for her role in The Farewell at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_AP20006147291569-1.jpgAwkwafina accepts the award for best actress in a motion picture comedy for her role in The Farewell at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday. Paul Drinkwater | NBC via AP

Meryl Streep appears in a scene from The Laundromat.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_AP19239218094845-1.jpgMeryl Streep appears in a scene from The Laundromat. Claudette Barius | Netflix via AP

Chlo Grace Moretz, left, and Isabelle Huppert star in the campy thriller, Greta.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_greta-1.jpgChlo Grace Moretz, left, and Isabelle Huppert star in the campy thriller, Greta. Focus Features

Isabela Moner plays a kids audience favorite in Dora and the Lost City of Gold.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_dora-1.jpgIsabela Moner plays a kids audience favorite in Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Paramount

Eddie Murphy leads a talented cast in Dolemite Is My Name.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_dolemiteismyname-1.jpgEddie Murphy leads a talented cast in Dolemite Is My Name. Netflix

Lee Jeong-eun, from left, Cho Yeo-jeong and Kang-Ho Song of Parasite arrive at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lee Jeong-eun, from left, Cho Yeo-jeong and Kang-Ho Song arrive at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_AP20005846980911-1.jpgLee Jeong-eun, from left, Cho Yeo-jeong and Kang-Ho Song of Parasite arrive at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lee Jeong-eun, from left, Cho Yeo-jeong and Kang-Ho Song arrive at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Jordan Strauss | Invision | AP

January 06, 2020

When 100 needy kids instead of the expected 20 show up for a party called Santa Fest, the organizer is overwhelmed. There arent enough gifts to go around. There arent enough refreshments.

Then the kids start breaking candy canes into pieces and sharing them, without complaint.

If that image from author Nancy McKinleys collection of stories, St. Christopher on Pluto, doesnt touch your heart maybe the handicapped veteran will, as he pets his dying dog with his only hand.

Or the high school kid with spina bifida as he independently strikes out to get himself to school in his wheelchair. Or the middle-aged women, tooling around in a 40-year-old Buick, who face life with spirit and laughter despite their limited resources.

McKinley, who is part of the creative writing faculty at Wilkes University, will read from St. Christopher on Pluto on Thursday evening at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center as part of Wilkes Universitys Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series.

The reading series highlights the January 2020 residency for the Universitys Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing and features alumni, guests and program faculty as guest readers.

McKinley, who lives in Fort Collins, Colo., once called the Tunkhannock/Springville area home, and has set her collection of fictional stories in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where major characters Colleen and MK ditch a car by the Mighty Susquehanna against MKs better judgment so Colleen can try to collect insurance.

The women listen to Froggy 101, admire an elderly friends refusal to move into assisted living as her son from Scranton wants her to, wonder how can a mechanic operate a business this far from Wilkes-Barre, and have a young acquaintance who considers applying for a job at Mohegan Sun so there are plenty of local references.

But what readers will likely remember most about the characters is their resilience, despite the less than rosy economy that has MK and Colleen working at a failing mall and shopping at the Salvation Army.

Theyre struggling, but what Im hoping to share is that theres hope and humor in that struggle, McKinley said during a recent interview. Their humor is very life-affirming, and its the one thing that cant be taken away from them.

I wanted to showcase the voices of people who arent always heard.

Middle-aged and feisty Colleen and MK have a friendship that dates back to their time as schoolgirls at a Catholic elementary school, where a nun once suggested they write to a soldier who was serving in Vietnam. Little did Sister Immaculata imagine her best students would give the young man the impression the letters were from a mature woman eager to date him.

Colleen and MK have a soft spot for odd causes; theyre indignant that the Catholic church no longer considers Christopher a saint, for example, just as scientists dismissed Plutos status as a planet.

Ask McKinley if she sees herself in MK or Colleen, and shell explain, Just as a parent has DNA in her children, theres a part of me in all the characters. As writers we draw from the well-spring of our experiences.

Yes, she attended a Catholic grade school, as MK and Colleen did. And she was close to her beloved grandmother, as MK is. And the whole candy cane-sharing episode is familiar, too.

Ive taught in under-served communities, the author said, and its amazing to me to see the sense of sharing,

The Maslow series, which kicked off on Monday, continues tonight through Thursday, from 7 to 9 p.m. each evening at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center, 239 S. River St., Wilkes-Barre. All readings are free and open to the public.

The schedule includes:

Jan. 7: Readers Kevin Oderman, David Poyer, Lenore Hart, Jeff Talarigo, Kaylie Jones, Beverly Donofrio, Jacquelyn Mitchard, and Phil Brady

Jan. 8: A playwrights night featuring a reading of creative writing faculty member Jean Kleins play Generous Rivals.

Jan. 9: In addition to McKinley, whose book St. Christopher on Pluto was released in December by West Virginia University Press, readers include guest authors Susan Mailer, whose memoir In Another Place: With and Without My Father, Norman Mailer, was published in fall 2019 by Northampton House Press, Sheryl St. Germain, whose memoir in essays, 50 Miles, will be published in 2020 by Etruscan Press, and poet Tim Seibles, whose collection Fast Animal also published by Etruscan Press was a National Book Award finalist.

Seibles is an advisory board member for the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Rounding out the readers will be creative writing program alumna Suzanne Ohlmann, who will read selections from her novel. A book signing and reception will follow Thursdays readings.

Wilkes Universitys Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing offers the master of arts and master of fine art degrees in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, playwriting, publishing and documentary film.

Program faculty are working, producing writers who mentor students one-on-one through the process of creating a full-length creative project. The Graduate Creative Writing program is offered in two formats. In the low-residency format, students learn online and attend two eight-day residencies each January and June. For the weekender program, students will learn online and attend four face-to-face weekend class sessions each term. For more info, visit wilkes.edu/creativewriting or call 570-408-4527.

Nancy McKinley, a founding faculty member of Wilkes Universitys Creative Writing Program, poses with her book St. Christopher on Pluto, from which she will read on Thursday evening at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center as part of the Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_nancy.with_.book_.jpgNancy McKinley, a founding faculty member of Wilkes Universitys Creative Writing Program, poses with her book St. Christopher on Pluto, from which she will read on Thursday evening at the Dorothy Dickson Darte Center as part of the Maslow Foundation Salon Reading Series. Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

St. Christopher on Pluto was released in December by West Virginia University Press.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_wilkes.book_.jpgSt. Christopher on Pluto was released in December by West Virginia University Press. Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader

Author Nancy McKinley to read from book during Maslow series

January 06, 2020

Happy New Year, everyone.

Over the weekend I heard some very exciting news from my colleague, Dr. Kishore Harjai.

Hes a cardiologist in our Geisinger Heart Institute who specializes in using catheter procedures in the cardiac catheterization laboratory to treat not only the coronary arteries (the hearts fuel lines) but also the structural elements of the heart such as its valves, walls and various mechanical defects.

One of the most exciting techniques he and a team of other Geisinger cardiologists, surgeons and anesthesiologists, supported by a bevy of skilled nurses, technicians and advanced practitioners, have brought to the Northeast and Central regions of Pennsylvania is TAVR. Ive written about this Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement procedure in this column before. You may recall that its the procedure Mick Jagger underwent to deal with his tightly narrowed aortic heart valve.

Remember that the aortic valve separates the hearts high-pressure pumping chamber, the left ventricle, from the bodys blood distribution network of arteries. The valve opens and closes with each heartbeat and prevents blood from rushing backwards into the pumping chamber from whence it was just ejected, thus allowing the heart to refill, reload and prepare for the next squeeze.

When this critical valve becomes affected by a variety of diseases and injuries, it can scar down and harden, restricting its ability to open and freezing it with a narrowed orifice.

In the past, the conventional treatment for aortic valve stenosis, once severe enough to cause symptoms, was a surgical open-heart operation to cut out the old damaged valve and replace it with a substitute. This generally successful and quite well refined procedure requires general anesthesia, a generous chest incision, use of a heart lung machine to take over the hearts function for a time and a brief period during which the heart is stopped to allow opening the water main and replacing the valve.

In the usually less stressful TAVR procedure however, the replacement valve is folded up onto a catheter, passed through the groin arteries, across the narrowed valve and unfurled within the narrowed area, stretching it, pushing the diseased leaflets out of the way and, now opened, functioning just like the original normal valve all without a major incision.

These procedures have been shown to be at least as good for many patients as the previous conventional open operations and for some, safer.

Nevertheless, most of the teams throughout the country continue to do the TAVR procedures with the patient under full general anesthesia. Although this too has been generally safe and quite perfected, it does introduce its own risks and potential pitfalls.

The stress of general anesthesia in these often quite fragile and tenuous patients can be significant and may complicate their recovery.

Dr. Harjai and his colleagues reasoned that if they could avoid the risks of general anesthesia and instead sedate their TAVR patients deeply as is often the case with other catheterization procedures, endoscopies and many medical tests and operations, their patients might recover quicker.

They found that by analyzing about 500 patients courses following TAVR both ways, that there were many benefits to sedation instead of general anesthesia.

Over the weekend he learned that a very prestigious national journal in cardiology has accepted his teams report of their findings and will publish it in April.

Im not allowed to spill the beans before then but wanted to let you all know that this remarkable work is only one of MANY important contributions to medical knowledge that our regional medical colleagues have made and continue to make. After the paper is published, Ill give you the details but for now lets celebrate the innovative, insightful, skilled and overall excellent care our medical community is capable of. We are indeed fortunate to live here.

Congratulations, team!

Casale

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_casale_edit.jpgCasale

January 04, 2020

The month of January is a time of preparation, isnt it?

Were preparing for all thats to come in the new year: work and life feats, goals were crushing and challenges were overcoming.

It can be exciting.

Besides all the high-level thinking, there are events to attend for causes that matter.

I make sure to keep my eyes open for community-related events because thats where we see the great impact organizations are making on our neighborhoods and people.

Take the Fallen First Responders Association, which will be the featured nonprofit at the Wilkes-Barre POWER! January networking event at Jonathans in Wilkes-Barre.

The group will be highlighted, and representatives will speak about the purpose of the association (to financially assist the families of fallen first responders killed in the line of duty) at the Jan. 15 event that begins at 6 p.m.

Theres nothing as noble as helping families of law enforcement, firefighters, corrections officers, probation and parole agents and EMS whove sacrificed so much for civilians.

As POWER! welcomes the nonprofit that night, we hope it will be a time for reflection on how we can all do our part to help those men and women in uniform.

Itll also be a night of top-notch networking with local professionals in one of the areas best restaurants.

Besides that event, theres Big Brothers Big Sisters Game Night on Jan. 30 at the Woodlands in Plains Township.

Teams show off their skills in competitions of Pictionary, Family Feud and Celebrity.

All you need is to get three friends or co-workers together, register at bbbsnepa.com/gamenight/ and you could show up at 5:30 p.m. to participate.

Originally posted here:
Act Out Theatre presents Of Mice and Men Jan. 10-12 - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader