The Rubicon Theater on Main Street in downtown Ventura has outdone itself for this season, promising to renew its fabulous International Theater Festival again next summer. If you missed it this time, start marking your summer calendar for 2009 now. The festival offered twenty-three striking events in sixteen days, most at moderate prices. The two that I attended were among four sessions offered absolutely free. Bi-lingual Spanish romantic comedy, Ivory Coast political intrigue, Israeli “Spanish Inquisition” drama, scholarly Beckett interpretation, soul-searching cabaret sing-out in the round, a former Cirque du Soleil French mime, and much more grace a variety of Ventura’s most delightful settings. This festival is for lovers of seaside towns, charming architecture, quality theater, and international flavor.
With my empty wallet and tight schedule, I wandered warily into the vintage Elks Lodge on Main just a few blocks from the heart of the city to see what nothing much would buy there. Light drinks and conversation made the first set. Then I climbed the broad bannistered stairwell past ocean views to a performance hall with vast ceilings and a cascade of art deco lamps. There the Rubicon had set out a spare and understated Japanese background to receive Lon Gordon and his Kabuki (Theater) lecture and presentation. The room was filled with soft light from gigantic windows, letting in the fresh sea air. Assisted into a theater of the round setting of maroon velvet seats, I was ready when Lon Gordon made his Kabuki style entrance. He came through the doorway, not on his feet, but through the air. His costume was timeless, priceless (he’d cost his Japanese theater half a million dollars in costumes), manly, and appropriate for what is clearly as much ballet as song, drama, poetry, and history.
Gordon proceeded to explain, narrate with stories, and demonstrate wondrously the exquisite facets of ancient Kabuki theater. His presentation alone proved amazing to see and hear. But the opportunity to learn what is otherwise culturally challenging to study was priceless. Beyond all of this, Gordon, as master performer of an ancient art not previously taught to westerners, shared his humble growth in the Kabuki discipline. His personal story of trial and finally acceptance into the esteemed Noh and Kabuki worlds stayed with me. It’s a rare and true story about respect for self, others, culture, and the beauty of life itself.
Only one topic could possibly have transcended Lon Gordon’s, and that was the Rumi reading, which was held at the Crown Plaza Hotel on the ocean’s edge in the heart of downtown. Rumi, the 13th century Persian sufi poet, would have approved their offering his material free on a drop-in basis at a book fair. Rumi’s thoughts exult in non-materialism and are famous for being the most glorious renderings of how to enjoy poverty ever written, spoken, or shared this way. Giselle Wolf and George Backman bantered his exultations and often humorous moral warnings back and forth as the expert dramatists they are. They turned his ruminations (pun) into theater without a stage. Much praise should go to these two. Their book fair setting was not sufficiently quiet; yet they mesmerized a small dedicated audience, all with hands cupped to their ears. Any touch of Rumi in a community is a sign of creeping excellence. What the Rubicon has done for Ventura and all of Southern California should be tasted by all, those with and without time and wallets.
By Guest Writer Chris Cryer
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