This is Drama Masks, a Bay Area performing arts column from a born San Franciscan and longtime theatre artist in an N95 mask. I talk venue safety and dramatic substance, or the lack thereof.
I write these words having missed out on a mini-seminar advising SF artists on how to, y’know, live here. Incidentally, one of the reasons I missed it was to pick up a free meal from a church a few blocks away. Such is the paradox of living in SF, where City Hall says they love artists, but refuses to give us representation.
Honestly, I was hedging my bets anyway. Sure, the gathering’s motivation seemed honorable, but what would they tell me that I didn’t already know? What program could they recommend that Mandelman, Mahmood, and Dorsey wouldn’t vote against? And what is their political stance?
That last one may seem unfair, as food as housing are often argued as being apolitical ideas, but 1) nothing is truly apolitical, and 2) the reason so many artists can no longer afford to live here is because of policies that favor the wealthy. Artists and institutions weren’t seen as necessary as a Starbucks. Hell, right now Supervisor Connie Chan is running against a guy bragging that he “built homes in SF” without mentioning he tried to kill rent control and shirked regulations that make buildings are actually livable.
I don’t say this to cast aspersions on those who put on the gathering. As far as I can tell, I don’t know any of them. But I have been around long enough where I’ve seen such gatherings come and go a million times before. Everyone thinks they’ve got the surefire solution to economic inequality, but only direct action can bring about change. I’d rather take to the streets with the folks proposing the Marie Antoinette solution.
Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal at SFMOMA
All this fuss over a hat. In 1905, Henri Matisse painted his wife Amélie in one of her favorite crowns, gave it the painfully-simple title of Femme au chapeau (Woman in a hat), and set off a firestorm due to its bold colors. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, I know, but it’s a nice reminder that people will always look for something to get pissed off about.
That controversy may have inspired SFMOMA’s new exhibit Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal (through September 13), but it’s hardly the focus. Rather, curator Janet Bishop and her colleagues dedicated an entire SFMOMA wing to showing the painting’s influence. (The painting was bequeathed to the museum in 1991 by wealthy philanthropist Elise S. Haas, with the strict stipulation that it could not travel, so this is a bit of a hometown show.)
The exhibition starts in a burgundy-filled recreation of the Salon d’Automne where the painting originally appeared, an animated recreation of where it hung in Gertrude Stein’s flat, and any number of then-contemporary “homage” paintings by fellow artists alongside modern-day takes on the concept.
The modern-day paintings give great perspective to the seven galleries that make up the show. Said galleries include everything from a collection of Amélie’s other fashion pieces to displays dedicated to SF’s own War Memorial Opera House, predecessor to our contemporary MoMA. The show works best as a throughline tracing the painting’s journey more than a document of the controversy. Works by Wayne Thiebaud and Mickalene Thomas appear to evolve out of the original rather than plagiarizing it.
In fact, that highlights the one truly weak part of the exhibit: the use of AI. With Google being a major sponsor, SFMOMA seemed obligated to include them. That’s why the show includes the aforementioned Stein home (which, admittedly, is effective in its subtly of aging the flat monochrome 1906 walls to colorful 1915 upgrades—a technique available before genAI) and a generated aerial shot of early-1900s Paris, which is painful to watch in a 60-frame-per-second anachronism.
We’re told that Google’s participation is to make sure artists are “part of the conversation,” but that’s easy to say where you’re the one stealing their words as passing them off as your own. Given all the detail that went into recreating the Salon practically, eschewing Google’s AI contributions would have been no loss to the exhibit.
Also working in the show’s favor is the MoMA’s wide-open spaces, which kept CO² levels on my Aranet4 down around 586ppm during the hour-plus I walked around the crowded exhibit.
Despite its advertising, Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal is actually a good immersive throughline showing ripples still being felt today. That enough is reason to give it a look. Just cover your eyes when you come across the AI slop.
MATISSE’S FEMME AU CHAPEAU: A MODERN SCANDAL runs through September 13 at the SFMOMA. Tickets and further info here.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch at NCTC
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (through June 14 at New Conservatory Theater Center, SF) is one of those shows where you either commit to the relentless onslaught of the story or you don’t do the story at all. The last Bay Area version was Shotgun’s 2023 production, which wholeheartedly embraced the “dive bar” aesthetic so as to break free of it. NCTC’s new version makes a few interesting choices (like Matt Owens’ German Expressionist aesthetic), but it’s surprisingly low-wattage for a show about over-the-top characters.
Bay Area actor trixxie carr brings her fine-tuned pipes to the title role (which she trades off with NCTC regular Samuel del Rosario), but there’s too much air between her line delivery for a lot of the zingers to hit. The updated text now includes jokes about ICE and a site-specific jab at NCTC’s frequent Avenue Q productions, yet it often seemed as if director Chris Morrell—a good actor in his own right—was trying to move this story of a pissed off trans woman (yes, played by two cis actors) away from its punk rock roots. Neither Hedwig the character nor Hedwig the show fit into the “common” mold—that’s what makes them relatable.
The show benefitted from CO² levels not getting too high, peaking around 1,299ppm during the final bow. I’d also recommend picking up a free pair of earplugs from the front desk (there’s a reason I carry my Eargasm Slides with me everywhere I go), as several audience members had to cover their own ringing ears. Yet, the audio reaches a level the cast never quite match. The still-great music from the live band is cranked up to “11;” it just needs the actors to do the same.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH runs through June 14 at NCTC, SF. Tickets and further info here.
