2008 in Review: Clark County's year in arts

(Columbian files)

3/3/04-Vancouver, WA--Slocum House. (Steven Lane/The Columbian)

3/3/04-Vancouver, WA--Slocum House. (Steven Lane/The Columbian)

Kristen Sergeant, as Tonya Harding, left, and Margaret Hunter, as Nancy Kerrigan, right, practice their fight choreograph between the Olympic figure skating rivals before a dress rehearsal of "Tonya and Nancy: The Opera," in Cambridge, Mass., Monday, May 1, 2006. The opera, which will be performed for the first time at the Zero Arrow Theater in Cambridge, Tuesday, May 2, is the work of Tufts music graduate student Abicail Al-Doory. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Kathleen Hansen stands in the new Brush Prairie Off-Leash Area with her keeshond Sidney (right) and other dogs. (photo by Norm Neely)

Filmmaker Darryl Roberts, second from left, greets Mt. View High School students, from left, Katrina Olsen, 17, Eli Bauer, 17, Danika Hamann, 17, and Millie Bernatovicz, 17, before the local premier of the film America the Beautiful at the Regal Fox Tower in Portland, Tuesday, September 2, 2008. The students were at Wy'east Middle School when Roberts filmed at the school several years ago. (The Columbian/ Steven Lane)

Moviegoers line up for the local premier of the film America the Beautiful at the Regal Fox Tower in Portland, Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (The Columbian/ Steven Lane)

Moviegoers file into the local premier of the film America the Beautiful at the Regal Fox Tower in Portland, Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (The Columbian/ Steven Lane)

Moviegoers packed the auditorium for the local premier Darryl Roberts' film America the Beautiful at the Regal Fox Tower in Portland, Tuesday, September 2, 2008. (The Columbian/ Steven Lane)

The cultural scene in Clark County was in many ways richer in 2008 than ever before.

The Amphitheater at Clark County hosted a record audience for a concert headlined by Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick. A filmmaker singled out Vancouver as a positive exception in telling the story of America’s unhealthy obsession with physical beauty. Christian Youth Theater’s East Vancouver group was first in the region to stage “High School Musical,” Bravo! Vancouver hosted a Croatian orchestra for a regional concert series and Clark College’s music department chair saw his composition premiere in Europe and the U.S. with a concert at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. Even options for pet lovers grew with the number of Clark County dog parks multiplying from one to three.

Of course, there were also some setbacks. The amphitheater had to renegotiate its rent agreement, plans to build a performing arts center bordering Vancouver’s Esther Short Park were scrapped and a Slocum House remodel was put on hold.

Taking the good, the bad and the oddball into account, The Columbian staff picked 10 cultural milestones worth reflecting upon as 2008 comes to a close.

10. Bravo! Vancouver hosts Croatian orchestra

While many arts groups just talk about collaboration, Bravo! Vancouver excels at it.

As part of a cultural exchange, Bravo! Vancouver’s 50-member chorale joined the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in a series of regional concerts in September and October. It was the Croatian orchestra’s first tour of the Pacific Northwest.

The concert tour started with a private performance at the International Rotary Convention in Portland, followed by a public show in Portland’s Dolores Winningstad Theatre, a concert for students at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics and a public performance at Vancouver’s St. Joseph Catholic Church. The groups also performed together in Olympia, Seattle and Edmonds. The program included Croatian tunes, such as “The Eternal City of St. Blaise,” written by Sisa, as well as American folk songs.

Bravo! Vancouver’s Artistic Director Michael Kissinger discovered Dubrovnik and its orchestra when he and Bravo! music director Mario Manzo went to the Eastern European country a few years ago.

The trip included a stop in Dubrovnik, a tourist town on the Adriatic Sea, where Kissinger was stunned by the quality of the city’s orchestra. He compared the skill of the players to that of the St. Paul (Minn.) Chamber Orchestra, the nation’s only full-time professional chamber orchestra, which is widely regarded as one of the finest in the world.

Bravo! contributed about $50,000 to help cover the costs of this tour. The city of Dubrovnik picked up about $100,000 of the tab, including airfare, salaries and the per diem for the performers and support staff.

Bravo! has been an ambitious collaborator since 2003, when the group joined Tears of Joy Theatre to present Igor Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale.” The concert series since has formed partnerships with such organizations as the Portland Opera, the Washington State Ballet and The New Washingtonians from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. But the Croatian orchestra concert tour was the first time Bravo! has worked internationally on such a scale.

“Part of what you do in these situations is not just the music,” Kissinger said at the time. “It’s also a sharing of culture and friendship.”



9. Don Appert unveils “Nara Variations”

Don Appert, Clark College’s music department chairman, teaches three classes a quarter and directs the Clark College Orchestra. But one thing he hadn’t done in recent years was write music. In January 2007, he sought to change that by composing his first piece in more than six years, “Nara Variations.” Appert spent dozens of hours over the course of several months on the piece, culminating in a world premiere by the Ashiya Chamber Orchestra in Kobe, Japan, on Dec. 28, 2007.

Earlier this year, stateside fans were treated to the American premiere. The Clark College Orchestra performed “Nara Variations” at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics’ Royal Durst Theatre in June. In September, he led the Orquestra Simfònica de Sant Cugat in the European premiere of his composition.



8. Skyview and Hockinson bands play in Beijing

A group of about 120 band students from Skyview and Hockinson high schools traveled to China this summer to play in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Orchestra. The students stayed in Orchestra Village in Grand Epoch City, joining musicians from around the world.

The approximately 1,700-member orchestra reportedly was the first foreign group to play in Tiananmen Square, a distinction of which Steve Robertson, director of bands at Skyview High School, was particularly proud.

“I think it’s something the kids will be able to talk about for years and years to come,” he said.

Extreme heat and jet lag proved challenging, but those inconveniences paled in comparison to the experience of eating Peking duck, touring Beijing’s Forbidden City, visiting the Great Wall and playing inside the athletes’ Olympic Village, students said.

“Everything was amazing, no matter where you were,” recalled Alex Witteried, 16, a clarinetist at Skyview High School.



7. Slocum House Theatre Company puts renovation on hold

The Slocum House Theatre Company and the city of Vancouver, which owns the historic home at Esther and Sixth streets, unveiled ambitious plans to renovate and expand the artistic venue in 2004. But the all-volunteer group was able to raise only a couple thousand dollars for the project, and announced in January that it would shelve the $2 million project.

Slocum’s stalled plans call for tearing down the dilapidated hodgepodge of construction tacked on to the back of the historic home, building a bigger theater (increasing from 61 seats to 100), expanding the lobby, adding meeting rooms and improving public access.

Mike Heywood, the troupe’s president, said earlier this year that the expansion idea “was kind of a flash of enthusiasm in the city government. And people move on, and budgets of the departments that hatched the concept were cut, so there’s not any real momentum.”

That won’t likely change for a while, said Slocum House Theatre Company board member Jim Fully. Given the condition of the economy, “it would take a miracle,” he added.

While there wasn’t money available for a major remodel, the theater group did enjoy success in its effort to help others. The group used one of its productions to raise $2,030 for Share, a Vancouver nonprofit agency that helps the homeless and needy.



6. Tonya Harding inspires a rock opera

Tonya Harding, one of Southwest Washington’s best known residents, remained in the spotlight in 2008.

Harding became a late-night talk show punch line after her ex-husband was accused of plotting to injure figure-skating rival Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 Winter Olympics. In February, Harding’s life story was put on stage when Triangle Productions’ musical, “Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera,” opened in downtown Portland.

The show re-created events as they reportedly happened and wove real quotes from the participants for lyrics and dialogue. It included songs such as “The Laces Broke,” which included Harding’s plea to judges for another turn to skate at the Olympics.

Harding attended the world premiere. Asked her opinion of the show, Harding said, “Watching me, but not me, it was just kind of odd. I didn’t know anything about what it was going to be like.

“… It was really cool.”

In December, Yacolt painter Mary Millar exhibited parody portraits of the Olympic figure skater in a monthlong show at Portland’s GalleryZero.

5. Dog parks triple in Clark County

The number of dog parks in Clark County jumped from one to three this year with the opening of the Dakota Memorial Off-Leash Area at Pacific Community Park near east Vancouver in July and the Brush Prairie Off-Leash Area in November. Previously options were limited to Ross Off-Leash Park just south of Hazel Dell, which opened in the summer of 2005.

The 8-acre off-leash area at Pacific Community Park is the county’s only publicly funded dog park. Members of Dog Owners Group for Park Access in Washington, or DOGPAW, paid for and built the other two parks. Ross Off-Leash Park is on the Bonneville Power Administration’s Ross Complex, but the Brush Prairie park is on county-owned land near the Center for Agriculture, Science and Environmental Education.

The county is letting DOGPAW use the space for free and donated gravel for the parking lot, but DOGPAW membership fees, donations and a $4,000 grant from Purina covered about $12,000 construction costs.

As DOGPAW membership grows, the group would like to build more parks throughout Clark County. The group and the county are working together to identify other areas for future parks, said Clark County Public Works Director Pete Capell.

Pam Goe, chairwoman of the board for DOGPAW, said the next dog park likely will be in the Vancouver Lake area. She hopes construction will begin in the spring.

4. “America the Beautiful” premieres, draws Clark County following

The impetus behind Chicago filmmaker Darryl Roberts’ documentary “America the Beautiful” was a desire to understand America’s obsession with physical appearance. In between visiting fashion hubs such as Los Angeles and New York City, Roberts spent time in Vancouver, which he found to be a beacon of solid parenting and healthy self-esteem.

Roberts filmed in Vancouver from December 2003 to December 2005, and Clark County figures prominently in the project both on camera and off. Wy’east Middle School and Mountain View High School teachers and students, as well as other Vancouver residents, appear in the final cut. Strengthening the local connection, the film was edited by Pedro Peraza and executive produced by Dennis Damore, both of Vancouver.

Some former Wy’east students came to the film’s Portland premiere in September. They still remembered when Roberts filmed at their school more than three years ago.

“It was like the most exciting thing that ever happened at our school,” said Danika Hamann, 17, of Vancouver, now a Mountain View High School senior.

Vancouver resident Mary Muhich, who teaches Advanced Placement psychology at Mountain View High School, attended the premiere with her daughter Emily. Muhich is featured in “America the Beautiful,” discussing with her students how advertisers objectify and sexualize women to sell products.

Muhich hoped Emily took the film’s message to heart.

“I want her to see how superficial our society is when it comes to appearances, and to learn to embrace all looks, shapes, sizes and colors. To embrace herself,” Muhich said.

3. Christian Youth Theater stages “High School Musical”

Christian Youth Theater provided one of the year’s theatrical highlights by becoming the first local group to stage “High School Musical.”

The group paid $6,800 for the royalties to perform the show in February in Camas. That was months ahead of a national tour, which brought professionals to Portland to play the parts in late May.

“High School Musical,” which is based on a Disney Channel movie, has become a cultural phenomenon with TV, radio and concert spinoffs. More than 60 Clark County kids got the chance to portray their beloved characters in the Christian Youth Theater production.

Before the opening, Fredia Thompson, coordinator of Christian Youth Theater’s East Vancouver arm, said, “For a lot of (the cast members), they are really living their dreams to be in this show. … They can relate to the characters, who they are, how they express who they are and the level of acceptance by others.”

The east county extension of Christian Youth Theater made its debut in 2007 with “Annie.”

2. Proposed performing arts center zeros in on a home

The nonprofit group behind a proposed performing arts center set its sights on the Vancouver National Historic Reserve as a target location in 2008. The arts advocates are working with the city of Vancouver and the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust to secure the site on the western edge of the reserve currently home to Vancouver Police Department headquarters, said Val Ogden, chairwoman of the board for Southwest Washington Center for the Arts.

In narrowing its focus to the reserve this year, the group dropped plans to build on a downtown Vancouver site near Esther Short Park due to mounting costs and a shaky economy. This after investing $35,000 in a feasibility study for the project.

The group also considered and rejected the idea of building on the former Boise Cascade property fronting the Columbia River. The group concluded there was too much uncertainty surrounding the timeline and feasibility of the proposed waterfront development project, given the current economic climate, Ogden said.

Ogden estimates erecting an arts center on the reserve would cost about $40 million, $20 million less than what they’d have needed to raise to build a mixed-use center and parking structure in downtown Vancouver.

The group is waiting to begin fundraising until it can tell prospective donors exactly where the facility they’d be investing in will be located. Ogden hopes to have those details finalized by early March. Then the group will go into planning mode, waiting for the economy to improve before soliciting donations. Ogden expects it will take at least three or four years to raise the necessary capital.

1. Amphitheater snags the Police, hosts biggest concert yet

The Amphitheater at Clark County’s season was bookended by a pair of highlights. The amphitheater announced in February that the Police would perform at the venue as part of the group’s final tour before disbanding. The Police, which headlined the highest-grossing tour in 2007, was joined by opening act Elvis Costello and the Impersonators. The classic rock group performed before more than 15,000 fans, but it wasn’t the amphitheater's most-attended concert of the season.

The amphitheater’s biggest concert of the season was headlined by Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick. The late September concert attracted more than 17,300 fans, more than any other concert in the venue’s five-year history. Previously, Jimmy Buffett had headlined The Amphitheater’s biggest concert, drawing more than 16,000 fans in 2003.

The venue has been working to build attendance since 2003 and had yet to turn a profit by the 2007 season. In July, Clark County cut the amphitheater’s rent 57 percent. As part of the amphitheater’s new agreement with Clark County, it will install a retractable wall to help the venue host smaller shows, in all weather.

Columbian staff writers Mary Ann Albright, Matt Wastradowski, Erin Middlewood and Elisa Williams contributed to this report.