By Loretta Humble/Around the Town
I finally have something fun to tell you about. It’s about time. My friend John Walker finally came back from the wilds of Washington state where he has been visiting his daughter Susie. So I looked for something entertaining to lure him back to Malakoff. What I found was a notice of a one-woman show at the Jean Browne Theater at Tyler Junior College, called “O’Keeffe!”
Knowing how much my buddy Jo Ann Surls loves Georgia O’Keeffe, I called to see if she would go with us. Up till now she had refused to go anywhere with John and me, saying she didn’t want to be a fifth wheel, but when she heard who it was, she said she’d go with us anywhere for that.
Jo Ann served us mimosas at her house, then John drove us to Tyler in style in his mature Jaguar, where we had a really nice lunch, and then we started our search for the Jean Browne Theater. Now we knew it was at Tyler Junior College. But that didn’t keep us from spending 30 minutes driving around the campus, asking folks for directions before we finally found the theater. If there is a sign on the building, or one pointing towards it, we never saw either. Anyhow, we had allowed plenty of time, so we did find it. We had to walk quite a ways, but that didn’t hurt us. But I would suggest, if you head there for a show, get good directions before you go. You wouldn’t want to be late.
Once inside we were greeted by a friendly man named Dennis West, who introduced himself as producer, though we later found that he is also the husband of Carolyn Wickwire, the lady we came to see play Georgia O’Keeffe. A very recent husband, in fact, as he told us later they’ve only been married about five months. The reason this is interesting is that she is 77 years old. He is a few years younger, but he says she is far spryer than he is.
`She was magnificent! She couldn’t have been better. She was Georgia O’Keeffe on that stage. I’m not good as a reviewer, so I’m going to steal some lines from another reviewer from another town:
“O’Keeffe is surprisingly fresh and dynamic.
“The play reveals the often conflicted inner life and feelings of the world-famous artist Georgia O’Keeffe and leaves her well-known body of work well enough alone. Not one Kinko’s-enlarged, blurred print nor one clumsily painted attempt at reproduction sullies the performance.
“It’s an austere production, minimalist in setting, lights and props, allowing the ideas, dreams and perspectives of O’Keeffe, the woman, to flow through Wickwire’s nimble expressions as a masterful, versatile performance artist. Drawing from her voluminous correspondence, interviews and biographies, (the playwright) McDermott introduces O’Keeffe as a ghost, returned to speak directly to an audience.”
I just loved it. We got to visit them afterwards, and learned that this is just sort of their retirement pastime. They have another one planned where he gets to act a bit. It’s called “About Time,” featuring an old couple, just talking about everything as they face their mortality. It sounds humorous, sad, and wise. I would love to get them to bring it here. Cedar Lake might just be willing to underwrite it.