Gavin Kayner, the playwright & director of this new play, “Hokey Pokey,” wondered about that question after seeing it on a bumper sticker and wrote this play about four men in a mental institution somewhere in America. He defines hokey pokey as a noun (in the program) meaning “1) trickery; deception; hocus pocus; 2) a cheap kind of ice cream sold by street vendors; and 3) a childhood song performed as dance using movements suggested by the lyrics.”

Most of you remember that song from Kindergarten, about putting your right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot, head, entire body, etc. into the circle, and then turning yourself around. That was “what it was all about.” Kayner’s play does turn you around in your thinking about mental illness and what’s real in your own world, your circle of reality.
It’s a powerful play with lots of raw emotion and wounded characters who have ended up in an institution. But it’s also a very clever, witty play about human suffering, death, suicide, racism, capitalism, isolation, bullying, and much more. And it certainly is not hokey.

All four male actors portray their characters well: Nick Salyer as Roget (French name, not Roger, a would-be-writer), Jacob Brown as Otto (“the King of Clowns”), Victor Bowleg as Harrison (a magician), and Jared Strokes as Ponzi, a true capitalist schemer selling elixir to cure all ills, mental or physical. I personally know Victor from his work with the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, but have never seen him act before.

The play takes place on a Monday in the “common room” at the mental hospital as the four men interact and challenge each others’ pasts, career choices, and failures. Some of them know each other too well and begin to interact like dysfunctional family members. Then add onto that their mental illnesses and weaknesses, and confrontation ensues. At one point Roget humorously says that “only madmen tolerate their own company.”

Human frailty is brought up in this play, especially the “masks” that people wear to meet & greet each other. Two of the characters do wear painted face masks throughout the play. And each character exhibits their survival coping mechanisms acquired at home or in the streets–as a person leaves Kindergarten to grow up into adulthood and face Life’s disappointments & often despair. Sometimes that despair is too much to handle.

The play’s dialogue between the characters is fast & furious, almost too fast, as sometimes the audience can miss the punch line or the witty remarks. The racism suffered by black magician Harrison is poignantly portrayed by Black-American Victor who rants about the negativity of “black magic, black arts, being blackballed, blackmailed, the black market, black eyes, blackheads.” As an Asian-American I know the racism that can be targeted at a person only too well (yellow peril, yellow fever, etc.) But to white people the strong racial remarks may be somewhat disturbing.

“Hokey Pokey” does end on a positive note about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, becoming “free at last.” “Then what? So what?” asks Ponzi. And that’s what the audience has to figure out for themselves, as they encounter their own lives and value systems.

“Hokey Pokey” plays for two more weekends at the Cabaret Theater at the Temple of Music & Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. at 7:30 p.m. October 19, 20, 27, and 2 p.m. on Oct. 21 and 28. Tickets are $20, call 520-297-3317 to reserve your tickets. Click here to see my previous post announcing this clever play, produced by Piquant Plays Productions and the Old Pueblo Playwrights.

"The Scholar" by Nick Georgiou (mixed-media)

Newsprint artist Nick Georgiou had an opening reception on October 28 of his new one-artist show “Paper Elegies” at the Temple of Music & Art, showing through November 22. Here’s the gallery description of Nick & his art:

As the debate over the death of the printed word continues, mixed-media artist Nick Georgiou moves the discussion in a new direction by transforming discarded books and newspapers found on the street into sculpture, reclaiming and revisiting how we absorb language and information today.

Using old books, newsprint and a variety of colored papers, Georgiou selects, cuts, arranges, folds, and stacks the printed remains, creating mesmerizing 3-dimensional wall pieces, that speak both to the mounds of discarded print all around us and the constant barrage of information we have available at our fingertips today. In the rapidly exploding world of digital images and words, pulp star Georgiou is a storyteller harvesting the past and examining the future at the same time. Is there an app for that?

Transplanted New Yorker Georgiou received his BFA in Film and Television from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and worked in film prior to pursuing a full-time career as a sculptor. The recipient of commissions from Oxford University Press and the Washington Post Corporation, Georgiou’s work has been exhibited at Black Rat Press and Andipa Modern galleries in London, and in several shows in the New York area.

Last December I visited Nick’s studio here in Tucson and wrote about his unique art (click here). His present show has lots of unusual portraits, whimsical flowers,
a large saguaro cactus, a female nude, all of which he meticulously created.

Temple of Music & Art, www.ethertongallery.com
330 S. Scott Avenue, north of Cushing St.
M to F, 10 to 5 p.m., and prior to Az Theatre Company productions
520-624-7370

Nick Georgiou’s website: www.myhumancomputer.com.

First walk south from E. Congress past the old federal courthouse (built in 1929) to E. Broadway Blvd., where the recent Scott Avenue street renovation and landscaping begins.

There at that intersection are two large gateway monuments on either side (see photo below) with lots of information & photos on “Tucson’s Historic Cultural District” and “Architectural Treasures of Scott Avenue” on plaques affixed to these monuments.

Gateway towers, courtesy of Dr. Albrecht Classen

A block south you will encounter a huge 12 foot tall orange metal griffin (half lion/half eagle) sculpture by artist Joe O’Connell, which lights up at night. This griffin sculpture was recently installed in May, 2009. Close by are two lovely orange blooming cactus plants. I’m not a plant expert, but I think it’s the claret cup cactus (from my “70 Common Cacti of the Southwest” book).

claret cup cactus plant

griffin sculpture, courtesy of Dr. Albrecht Classen

Then behind the Tucson Children’s Museum (200 S. 6th Avenue), you have to be vigilant or you might miss sighting a quaint, historic bed & breakfast behind a large white rose bush which grows over the metal entry gate. This is The Royal Elizabeth Bed and Breakfast Inn, 204 S.Scott Ave, phone 520-670-9022. Just a peak into their front foyer will make you think you are back in 1878 when this home was built. See their website: www.royalelizabeth.com for videos of this amazingly charming B & B. (Closed April 12 for the summer, will be re-opening in mid-September).

Lovely palo verde trees with yellow flowers, pink blossoming bushes, towering acacias greet you as you continue your stroll south on Scott Avenue till you get to the renovated, historic Temple of Music & Art, 330 S. Scott Ave (built in 1927, see photo below). Arizona Theater Company has numerous performances here at night, and there are often receptions in the Cabaret Art Gallery on the second floor.

Temple of Music and Art

This lovely part of South Scott Avenue is between E. Congress Street on the north, and E. 14th Street on the south end. It truly has become one of the loveliest landscaped streets to stroll along in downtown, especially when the desert is blooming.

Coming in the future, a new T.E.P. building on Scott Avenue between E. Broadway Blvd. and E. 12th Street (former Santa Rita Hotel & Ballroom site, now vacant).

Enjoy a Spring stroll on South Scott Avenue!