Journey to a radical cause: Natasha Ala as Emma Goldman in "In Their Own Words," a First Friday presentation at the MTS Gallery in Mountain View.

On First Friday, Aug. 7, the MTS Gallery, the art center at Mountain View's former Mobile Trailer Supply, hosted "In Their Own Words: Emma Goldman & Adolph Fischer." This 25-minute staged presentation before an SRO crowd, which was put together by Anchorage poet and teacher Brian Hutton, tells of the impact of Chicago's notorious Haymarket affair of 123 years ago on Goldman and Fischer.

What did I get myself into?: Ryan Buen usually acts in Alaska Overnighters, but he was both an actor (Saturday evening) and a first-time writer (Sunday evening) for the latest Overnighters, which played at APU. (Photo by Peter Porco)

The latest installment of the semi-annual Alaska Overnighters concluded Sunday evening with four new short works for the stage created from conception to curtain (i.e., script, casting, props, costumes, rehearsal, tech, final production--the works) in the space of 24 hours. Anyone who's ever taken part in this crazy process knows why it's been called "theatre cocaine."

Quick and dirty but seldom boring: Charlotte Kopp, Van Horn Ely II and Kayti Barnett in Schatzie Schaefers' "Ancient Chinese Secret," as performed in Alaska Overnighters on Aug. 22, 2004, in the UAA Recital Hall. Another crop of Overnighters starts 8 p.m. Saturday in APU's Grant Hall.

Alaska's semi-annual Mad Theatre Fools Party takes place this weekend, Saturday and Sunday evenings, at APU's Grant Hall.

That would be the Alaska Overnighters. The history of the Overnighters is lengthy by the standards of Alaska mad-cap creations--seven years old. Therefore, most people in the Alaska theatre community know what Overnighters is and are familiar with its process.

For serious collectors: "The Edinburgh Folio" is 40-volumes of everything by Shakespeare known to have been written, printed in a limited edition of 1,000 copies in Scotland in 1901.

A 108-year-old edition of Shakespeare's complete works--40 cloth-bound volumes of all the plays and poetry--is being offered for bid by an Alaskan whose family has owned the collection since publication.

Bidding starts at $1,200, which is darn pricey and renders this of interest to serious art and theatre collectors primarily.

"The Edinburgh Folio," as it is called, was edited by W. E. Henley and printed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1901 by T. and A. Constable, "Printers to her late Majesty" (that would be Queen Victoria, who died the same year), for the London publisher Grant Richards.

Always there: Ron Holmstrom accepts the Jerry Harper Service Award at the Gala event of the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, June 20, 2009. Looking on is conference director Dawson Moore. (PWSCC photo.)

Ron Holmstrom sent out message today to the Alaska theatre community and beyond, thanking "everyone for all of your congratulating and kind words upon my receiving the Jerry Harper Service Award at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference" in June.

Green Room offers its own congrats to Ron.

The award, according to a conference statement issued at the time it was given, "was created in 2007 to honor people who have been instrumental in the development and success of the Last Frontier Theatre Conference. It was named after Jerry Harper, one of the true icons of Alaska’s theatre, for his work with Cyrano’s Theatre and elsewhere. At the Conference, Harper performed in numerous evening productions, including Dick Reichman’s two-person play Money!, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, and Love Letters with Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal."

Acting is its own reward: David Ackert says all actors search for "that laugh, that gesture ... that will stir the audience’s soul."

The following quotation, by noted film & TV actor David Ackert, offers ideas that many of us who aren't even actors have thought at some time:

Actors are some of the most driven, courageous people on the face of the earth. They deal with more day-to-day rejection in one year than most people do in a lifetime.

Every day, actors face the financial challenge of living a freelance lifestyle, the disrespect of people who think they should get “real” jobs, and their own fear that they’ll never work again. Every day, they have to ignore the possibility that the vision they have dedicated their lives to is a pipe dream.

Living art. Dead newspaper: For the second year in a row, you can vote for all kinds of Best of Alaska Awards in the Anchorage Daily News's annual contest. But "Live Theatre"? Fuhgeddaboutit!

The Anchorage Daily News is currently taking votes for its annual Best of Alaska Awards, as is The Anchorage Press for its annual Press Picks.

Seen from Green Room's perspective, what is all too noticeable is that Press Picks contains a vote category for "Best Live Theatre," whereas ADN does not. We're told this is the 2nd year in a row the state's largest newspaper has omitted a Live Theatre vote.

Drama queen: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin talks with her communications director Bill McAllister on Aug. 14, 2008, not long after the former TV reporter and amateur playwright was hired and just 15 days before the turning point in both their scripts.

Who knew that Bill McAllister, former Channel 2 News reporter and one-time flack for now ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, wrote plays or that he directed and acted in them? Brendan Joel Kelley, Associate Ed. of The Anchorage Press, writes in the July 23-29 issue of The Press that McAllister has written and directed three one-acts, two of which he plays a role in, including one play in the form of a monologue by McAllister as a CIA agent.

What hath Exxon wrought: "The Big One," a new play by Dick Reichman, is about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It dramatizes, among other events, what occurred on the tanker's bridge the night of March 24, 1989. The play premiers at Cyrano's in September.

Saw the first cast read-through last night of Act One of The Big One, Dick Reichman's new play, which takes on the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill and premiers in September at Cyrano's.

Early view: It's theatrically smart of Dick to dramatize the on-the-bridge events of that fateful night, even though those events, including the actual words spoken by Capt. Lee Hazelwood and Third Mate Greg Cousins, are well known from news reports and Hazelwood's trial. Quite goose-bumpy to hear it enacted. Prediction: tears and outrage and even dejá vu all over again.

Passions run high: Glenn Morshower, Frank Collison and Laura Gardner in the June 16 reading of Daniel Damiano's "Day of the Dog" at the recently concluded 17th annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference. (Photo courtesy PWSCC.)

The 9-day annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference, one of the premier theatre-related festivals in the country and the brightest occasion of Alaska's theatre calendar, recently concluded in Valdez. Below, conference director Dawson Moore gives a debriefing of this year's event, the 17th. The conference is a production of Prince William Sound Community College, a branch of the University of Alaska Anchorage. To see a UAA-produced video short of conference highlights based on last year's event, visit YouTube (warning: it's HDV, a large file).

Native and Western cultures meet: Phillip 'Ossie' Kairaiuak and Anna Henton in 'The Gilded Tusk,' one of two short plays showing at the Anchorage Museum as part of its 'Gold' exhibit. (Photo courtesy the Anchorage Museum.)

In the study of history, experiences often are reduced to names, dates and objects.

Two short plays within the Gold exhibit at the Anchorage Museum provide immediate access to experiences and emotions from the past. Wheelman and The Gilded Tusk are historically accurate plays about what the outside world brought to Alaska during the gold rush era, and how Alaska changed as a result. These world premieres were commissioned by the Anchorage Museum.

Tragedy with no heat, comedy with no bite: Thornton Wilder felt the theatre in his time was trying to be soothing and had become evasive.

This guy Thornton Wilder, whose most famous work, Our Town, will have its last four performances over the coming weekend at Cyrano's, certainly knew how to craft a beguiling and deceptively simple play that manages to explore the eternal verities.

What did he think about theatre, and what did he think of Our Town? Consider these statements, from Wilder's Preface to the 1957 volume, Three Plays by Thornton Wilder: