A family movie about a teenage soccer star, a documentary about a vivacious 93-year-old actress and a drama about two women, one Jewish Orthodox and the other Muslim, finding common ground and friendship, were the top draws at the Gig Harbor Film Festival, which wrapped up Sunday. Screenings were held at the Galaxy Uptown multiplex.

The soccer movie “Her Best Move,” shown Friday, was the best attended picture on the schedule, nearly selling out its 6 p.m. showing, said festival president Marty Thacker. Seats were mostly filled with young girls in soccer jerseys, drawn both by the subject matter and the fact that organizers had arranged for two members of the Seattle Sounders professional soccer team to come and sign autographs and talk to the kids before the picture started.

There were no other sell-outs, but “Hats Off,” which screened Friday afternoon and chronicled the career of nonagenarian actress Mimi Weddell, and, Saturday morning’s “Arranged,” about the friendship of the Muslim and Jewish women, both preparing for arranged marriages, were very well-attended, Thacker said.

With this year’s inaugural festival now in the history books, organizers are already looking ahead to next year. They’re pondering lessons learned this past weekend and considering changes in the way the 2009 festival will be run. This year the first full day of screenings – there were 10 in all – was Friday, a day most people are at work. Thacker said next year’s opening is likely to be pushed back to Saturday, when folks have the day off.

Another lesson: “I think we’ll do more personal outreach,” said Paula Lillard, the festival’s vice president. Paid advertising and news stories about the festival are all well and good, Lillard said, but the personal touch is even better. Next year Lillard plans to speak to groups and clubs to tout specific movies on the schedule. She said she felt that approach, if used this year, might have boosted the audience for “Abel Raises Cain,” a documentary about a rascally hoax artist. As it was, "Cain" was one of the most sparsely attended movies on the schedule.

The festival began small – public screenings were scheduled Friday and Saturday – and is likely to stay small for the foreseeable future. For now, a festival lasting a weekend seems just the right size, Thacker said.

He hung out with the goofy pooch in “Scooby-Doo and “Scooby-Doo 2.” He came to an ugly end in “Scream.” He first made his mark in movies playing the gorehound son of a murderous suburban matron in “Serial Mom.” And Friday Matthew Lillard was in Gig Harbor playing three roles: star, co-producer and celebrity guest of the community’s first-ever film festival.

He was there at the behest of his real-life mom, festival board Vice President Paula Lillard. He was there to answer questions about two of his movies that were on the festival’s Friday night schedule: the aforementioned “Serial Mom,” the final film of the evening, and “One of Our Own,” an indie drama that he starred in and also co-produced.

He was unpretentious. No entourage here.

He was gracious, posing for photos with a few eager fans and patiently answering questions from a couple of high-school journalists about how he got his start in movies.

He was quite outspoken discussing the uncertain fate of “One of Our Own” and his place in the Hollywood firmament.

“One of Our Own,” a 2007 drama about a surrogate-parenting situation that goes badly awry for a young couple, has not gotten a commercial release in this country. That’s because it’s been caught in a tug-of-war between what Lillard calls “the creative guys” and “the money guys.” The creative guys, and that includes him and writer-director Abe Levy, had one vision of how the film should play out and the moneymen had another. And in a situation like that, Lillard said, “the money guy always wins."

He calls the version that played Friday “the creative version that we as the creative team stand behind.” Levy negotiated the right to play that version in festivals. It’s only been shown twice before: at last year’s Seattle International Film Festival and at this year’s Sonoma Valley Film Festival.

Then there is the version Lillard called the “hacked out” version. That was the version containing changes ordered by the film’s financial backers. “They changed elements within the movie,” he said. “They changed the songs.” They even changed the ending. When all was said and done, Lillard said “he with the biggest check gets to make the final call.” When and if the picture ever gets a theatrical release or makes it to DVD, it will be the “hacked” version that viewers will see. Which means that the Gig Harbor screening was an experience that will be afforded to a very few people in the future.

The 38-year-old Lillard has been in close to 40 movies over 14 years, mostly in character roles, and has gone on to co-produce a couple of pictures and will be directing one in the near future. That would seem to indicate he’s attained a certain level of clout in Hollywood. He doesn’t see it that way.

“If you ask me if I have clout, I will say no. I’m a hustler. I make movies, but by no means does that mean that I control my own destiny. With real clout, you can say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ I’m still hustling to get as many ‘yes’es as I can."

Asked if he’s worried that he’ll forever be best known as the guy who played Shaggy in “Scooby-Doo,” he replied, “yes, of course. But I’m still hustling.” Hustling for what? “The part that gets me the Academy Award and lets me control my own destiny.”

Under the eyes of Elvis, Marilyn and Capt. Jack Sparrow, Gig Harbor movers and shakers along with a handful of filmmakers showed up Thursday evening to kick off that city’s first-ever film festival.

Elvis & Co. were stand-up cardboard cutouts placed along a walkway next to the Galaxy Uptown ten-plex, the festival’s main venue and were there to underscore the event’s theme, “bringing a little Hollywood to Gig Harbor.” On a grassy parklike area adjacent to the theater more than 100 Gig Harbor business and civic leaders, including Mayor Chuck Hunter, mingled and chatted during the 5 p.m. cocktail party that preceded the screening of the festival’s first films.

John Jeffcoat, Seattle-based writer-director of the opening night feature, “Outsourced,” talked about how his indie comedy about an American executive sent to India to manage a call center is still playing in theaters around the country even though it’s just been out for nearly a year and has just been released on DVD. He said NBC is thinking about turning the story into a series and has commissioned him to write a pilot.

Stan Dunster, also of Seattle, an associate producer for “Shikashika,” a 10-minute documentary that preceded the showing of “Outsourced,” explained how he and a group of fellow Northwest mountaineers decided to become filmmakers after observing native people chopping and packing glacier ice down from a steep Andean peak while on a climbing expedition in Peru. The natives’ traditional costumes and the sheer effort involved in their task so intrigued the Americans that they returned to make a movie. The ice, we learn from the film, is taken into a city where it is shaved to make snow cones. The title refers to the sound of the ice being scraped by the native women.

After about an hour and a half of chitchat, the party moved into the theater where festival board President Marty Thacker and Vice President Paula Lillard introduced the board and the filmmakers (who stayed on to talk answer questions about their films) and signaled for the lights to be lowered. The credits for “Shikashika” came up and the film festival was off and running. It will run today through Saturday.

Showtime information can be found at www.gigharborfilmfestival.com.
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Gerald McDermott, "Raven Catches the Light," now at Handforth Gallery, Tacoma Public Library. Image courtesy Tacoma Public Library.

Children’s Book Illustrator comes to library
As part of the new exhibit of gorgeous mythical paintings by award-winning children’s author Gerald McDermott (“Raven: Trickster Tales”) at the Tacoma Public Library’s Handforth Gallery, McDermott himself will be at the library for a talk and book-signing at 7 p.m. Sept. 17. Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through November 18. Free. Tacoma Public Library main branch, 1102 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma. 253-591-5666, www.tacomapubliclibrary.org

Richard Marquis at Traver
Traver Gallery features one of the Northwest’s original glass artists with a reception tomorrow night: Richard Marquis, who not only brought blown glass art to Australia single-handedly but taught many American artists also. Reception 5-8 p.m. Sept. 13. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 5. Free. 1811 E. Dock St., Ste. 100, Tacoma. 253-383-3685, www.travergallery.com

New at Museum of Glass: Chihuly and Clayman
At about the opposite extremes of glass art are Dale Chihuly and Daniel Clayman. See both this weekend at MoG: Chihuly’s new 1,500-sq. ft. Venetian chandelier and Clayman’s enormous white minimalism. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. third Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays, opens Sept. 14. $10/$8/$4/free for under-six and third Thursdays 5-8 p.m. 866-4-MUSEUM, www.museumofglass.org

Farmers’ Market becomes “La Plaza Major”
The downtown Farmers’ Market goes Latino this week courtesy of the Broadway Center, which is staging a free Latino community event there next Thursday. 11 a.m.: storyteller Rose Cano, in second-floor lobby of Theatre on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma. Noon: band Correo Aereo plays on main stage in Pierce Transit Park, above the market on Broadway. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. artwork from Marcio Diaz and Lupita Cano in TOTS lobby. Free. www.broadwaycenter.org

ArtWalk Third Thursday
This month’s ArtWalk includes Australian wood-carver Mick Newham at Fulcrum Gallery, cityscapes by Gary LaTurner at Two Vaults and more. 5-8 p.m. Sept. 18. Free. Fulcrum Gallery: 1308 MLK Jr. Way, Tacoma; 253-250-0520, fulcrum.oliverdoriss.com. Two Vaults Gallery, 602 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma; 253-759-6233, www.twovaults.com

TNT critic Soren Andersen attended last night's world premiere of "Shrek the Musical." You can read his four-star review here.

The show is at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre through Sept. 21. After that you'll have to go to New York to see it.

You can get tickets by calling 206-625-1900.

Brian d'Arcy James in the title role of Shrek. (PHOTO: Joan Marcus)

As posted yesterday, Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz is stepping down, in three years' time.

Schwarz, 61, who's both much maligned (by musicians asserting favoritism) and beloved (by other musicians denying it), has been at the head of the orchestra since 1985, the longest-serving in that position at a major orchestra. After the 2011-12 season, he'll become the conductor laureate.

But the king's not yet dead. You can see Schwarz in all his glory conducting the SSO's opening weekend for the 2008-09 season this weekend. There's a preview concert Friday night at 7 p.m., a gala concert featuring opera greats Frederica von Stade and Samuel Ramey on Saturday night at 8 p.m., and a full day of FREE music in three venues.

Here are the details from the press release:

Join us in celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Benaroya Hall with a day of FREE performances and activities with Seattle Symphony, Soundbridge, Seattle Art Museum and The Triple Door. The celebration will happen in three locations: Benaroya Hall (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.), Seattle Art Museum (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), The Triple Door (4 p.m. onward). Nearly 50 musical acts in a variety of genres will appear on multiple stages, including the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall, Garden of Remembrance , Seattle Art Museum ’s South Hall and Knudson Family Room, Soundbridge and The Triple Door, plus children’s performances and activities.

Tickets/information: 206-215-4747 or see www.seattlesymphony.org.

Looks like Seattle Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz is stepping down after the 2011-2012 concert season.

This story just moved on the AP wire:

SEATTLE (AP) — Gerard Schwarz, music director of the Seattle Symphony and the longest serving in that position at a major orchestra, is stepping down in three years.

The 61-year-old Schwarz announced Wednesday he will become the symphony’s conductor laureate after the 2011-12 season.

He has been music director of the Seattle Symphony since 1985. During much of that time he also was music director of the New York Chamber Orchestra and of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York.

Under his baton the Seattle Symphony has built its audience from 5,000 subscribers to 35,000 and has boosted musicians’ salaries by 500 percent. Ten years ago the symphony opened a glittering new downtown performance center, Benaroya Hall.

John McCuistion, "Blackwater Burka." Image courtesy John McCuistion.

You couldn't look for two more different styles, but in a way, John McCuistion and William Herberholz--in Kittredge Gallery's first show this fall--complement each other nicely, drawing as they each do on social constructs. But while Herberholz is gently playful, McCuistion is ruthless.

McCuistion, who's been art professor at the University of Puget Sound for over 30 years, and department chair for two, shows every few years in the UPS' Kittredge Gallery. This show is a 40-year retrospective, and it's big: 25 small-ish figures in the middle, 28 circular platters and six masks on the walls. McCuistion's been working in clay since 1967, and his skill and attention to texture is continuous. Figures from the '80s--birds, abstracts--play with sparkly movement, their candy pastels and child-like globs playful. Masks from the '90s play with self-image: the flat ones painterly, the sculpted ones humorous, like an African Picasso with a fine sense of self-deprecation. Recent platters build on an earlier line of smooth surfaces where prints of fish and butterflies float over a painted haze.

But it's McCuistion's recent figures that grip you. In the center of the room they stand, grimly facing forward: only a couple of feet high, but chunky, arms and legs bound in the thick clay and dark glaze. There's a POW with haunted eyes, a soldier with blood-targeted chest, Cheney and a Bush supporter with devil's horns, and the bullet-riddled, black-tape-bound "Blackwater Burka."

Go along at 3 p.m. today for an artist talk with McCuistion himself.

Herberholz, meanwhile, pieces together delightfully singing memories of a North Dakota childhood. Bits of vintage tin cans, old toys, piano keys and plastic flowers are nailed together in a series of bright, saturated collages, their juxtapositions of chirpy Disney, June Cleaver types and gunslingers gently poking nostalgic fun at social stereotypes.

"John McCuistion: Forty Years" and "William Herberholz: Playtime" are up through Oct. 8 at Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, cnr North 15th and Lawrence Streets, Tacoma. Artist talks: McCuistion, 3 p.m. Sept. 10; Herberholz, 3 p.m. Sept. 17. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, noon-5 p.m. Saturdays. Free. 253-879-2806, www.ups.edu/kittredge.xml

There's a new professional theater group in Tacoma--and the auditions for the first show are coming up in a few weeks.

Theatre Northwest will be holding auditions on September 26 for its very first show. The theater group is an unusual partnership between the Broadway Center for Performing Arts and a group of local theater professionals, and is a non-profit which will mix Equity, non-Equity and community actors in an intended four shows per season. The group is run by four local directors: Brett Carr, Charlotte Tiencken, Christopher Nardine and Rod Pilloud, and its first show "The Final Toast," a Northwest-premiere mystery, runs in February, 2009.

If you've been following local theater at all in the past two years you'll know that Tacoma's first and only professional theater for several decades, the Tacoma Actors Guild, died a conclusive death in January, 2007 due to lack of money. The only thing coming close to professional theater since then, Erik Hanberg's The Horatio theater company, has been good but sporadic, struggling to find both funds and venue.

So what makes the folks at Theatre Northwest confident that it won't meet the TAG fate? A significant boost from the BCPA, that's what.

"We're production partners," says BCPA executive director David Fischer. "We will help incubate Theatre Northwest for an indefinite period." Which means, precisely, that the BCPA will pay for marketing and administration costs, stage labor, and rent of performance venue Theatre on the Square. Theatre Northwest will cover royalties, actor fees, sets and lighting/sound design. To meet those costs, they're soliciting private, corporate and institutional donations and grants.

"The idea is to help, as prudently as possible, generate a sustainable model for local professional theater," says Fischer, explaining that this sustainability will come as the company builds audience and donor base. He also hinted at a possible long-term partnership between the two institutions on some level.

Theatre Northwest's resident company have good credentials. All four directors are Tacoma Little Theatre veterans, while Charlotte Tiencken was former TAG director and is current managing director for Book-It Repertory Theater in Seattle. Set designer Kurt Walls designs for University of Puget Sound productions like "The New Orleans Monologues," and costume designer Alex Lewington is responsible for many of Tacoma Opera's productions.

Interestingly, though, while the company's first season includes crowd-pleasers like "Educating Rita" (May) and a Scrooge take-off (December), it's kicking off with a play no local audiences have seen. "The Final Toast" is a Sherlock Holmes mystery by Edgar Award winner Stuart Kaminsky, and it's only the second time it's been produced.

Says Brett Carr: "It's important that we establish right from the start that we will bring productions that are top quality but also challenging and unique to the community."

Not that "The Final Toast" is too much of a challenge: as Fischer points out, it's Sherlock Holmes, after all.

Auditions run from 5-8 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Theatre on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma, and are for male cast roles. For more information, visit www.theatrenorthwest.net.

John McCuistion, "Blackwater Burka," showing at Kittredge Gallery. Image courtesy Kittredge.

Kittredge Gallery shows forty years of John McCuistion
University of Puget Sound art department chair John McCuistion gets a forty-year career retrospective at UPS’ Kittredge Gallery, ranging from ceramics to mixed media sculpture. Also on show: William A. Herberholz, “Playtime.” Artist talk: 3 p.m. Sept. 10. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 12-5 p.m. Saturdays, through Oct. 8. Free. UPS, Kittredge Hall, N. 15th and N. Lawrence Sts, Tacoma. 253-879-2806, www.ups.edu/x4542.xml

Topographical faces at UWT Gallery
Over at the University of Washington, Tacoma gallery, SOTA graduate Dylan Betz turns portraits of famous authors (Umberto Eco, Stephen King) into topographical terrain. Also: painter Cassandra Kuring and photographer Alison Coffey. 1-5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12-5 p.m. Fridays, through Sept. 15. Free. 1742 Pacific Ave, Tacoma. 253-571-7914

Art and Coffee: C.J. Swanson at Cutters Point
The Cutters Point coffee shop in Gig Harbor’s Pt Fosdick Drive shopping area (just opposite the new multiplex cinema) has devoted part of the seating area into a fireplace lounge with curated art. Up this month: former Tacoma gallerist C.J. Swanson’s abstract geometric acrylics. 5006 Pt Fosdick Dr., Gig Harbor. Free. 253-858-2348, www.cutterspoint.com

Impromptu Gallery extends space to “Circle of Friends”
For September, Impromptu’s co-op members have invited local artists to show a few pieces each: names include sculptor Rob Fiser, printmaker Janet Marcavage, jeweler Joan Joachims and Sumi painter Fumiko Kimura. 4-9 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2-9 p.m. Saturdays, 2-6 p.m. Sundays, through Sept. 27. 608 Fawcett St., Tacoma. 253-572-9232, www.grandimpromptugallery.com

Lakewood Playhouse gets away with murder (and more)
Lakewood’s 70th season opens with “Lucky Stiff,” which manages to combine murder, music, mystery and mayhem in one show. Opens 8 p.m. tonight, then 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Oct. 5. $16-$24. 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd, Lakewood. 253-588-0042, lptheater.qwestoffice.net

Above: Untitled print by Wayne Thiebaud. Below: “Balancing Act” by Antie Brink (oil pastel)

You have a few more days to check out “Selections from the Permanent Collection,” at The Fine Arts Gallery at Pierce College Fort Steilacoom.

This varied media exhibition is up through Wednesday, Sept. 10.

According to the college the featured artists include Linda Artage, Leonard Baskin, Antie Brink, Clint Brown, Paul Clinton, H. Creuzevault, Kathy Fridstein, Addie Gram, Rachael Parr, Midore Onon Theiel, Philip Pearlstein, Andrew Richards, Betre Schneider, and Wayne Thiebaud.

The gallery is located on campus at 9401 Farwest Drive SW, Lakewood. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to noon Friday.

For more information, call Gallery Director Jennifer Olson-Rudenko at 253-964-6535.

Murals by Alexis St. John (left) and Maura Desimone await installation on the exterior of the Tapestry Covenant Church building Wednesday evening. (Craig Sailor/The News Tribune)

Can you have too many murals? Folks on the Hilltop don't think so.

The Martin Luther King Housing Development Association is presenting the second Music and Murals festival Saturday, from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at People's Park, on S. 9th St. and MLK Jr. Way. The event celebrates the power of collective art to unite, beautify and invigorate a community: live music will play all day in the park, while local artists paint murals to be mounted on Hilltop buildings.

Last year the Festival not only saw the unveiling of the Tacoma Works Storefront Mural Project, four plywood murals on boarded-up storefronts along MLK Jr. Way between 11th and 13th, but generated three new murals for the side of the Tapestry Covenant Church building, at 824 MLK Jr. Way (just north of the Park.) These were only just mounted this week, but the Storefront murals have been up for a year and the response, say organizers, is positive.

"We believe the proof is in the pudding because none have been tagged!" says co-organizer and artist Maura Desimone (left, installing a mural Wednesday evening.)

For Saturday's festival, muralists Bob Henry (who painted the Martin Luther King mural opposite People's Park), Dionne Bonner (painter of the street octopus at 6th Avenue and Pine Street) and Alexis St. John (who did the salmon on Radio Shack at Proctor) will be painting new murals, this time intended for the walls of the Allen Renaissance Building at 1301 MLK Jr. Way. MLK HDA is funding the murals.

Meanwhile, Henry is donating two canvases, which two of the Storefront Mural artists, including Desimone, will be donating their time to paint for more of the Tapestry church walls.

Mexican and BBQ food will be available, as well as a kids' zone with a jumping castle, puppet show and face painting. The ten-band line-up includes Michael Powers and Just Dirt, and there will be performances by Northwest Tap Collective and a hip-hop dance team.

Music and Murals is a free event from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at People's Park, S. 9th St. and MLK Jr. Way, Tacoma.

Jeremiah Maddock, "Carpet Rough." Image courtesy Lisa Kinoshita.

Inside the tiny, orange-walled space at Mineral, Jeremiah Maddock has created windows into another world. It's a world of intense detail, intricately drawn patterns, where even the clouds are made up of alphabet letters and the cities of millions of microscopic squares. "Bombfroilcatnek," Mineral's three walls of Maddock's drawings, shows both Maddock's delicate artistry and Mineral owner Lisa Kinoshita's excellent judgement.

If you were in Tacoma four years ago you may remember Maddock's work. He showed at the former Kickstand (now One Heart) Cafe next to The Grand Cinema--before my time here, at least. Since then, the Tacoma artist has moved to New York and made good, gradually, showing at New York's Saved Tattoo, and solo shows in Milan, Denver and Mexico City (while paying the bills by staging the lighting at Democratic conventions.) He seems to be a pretty shy guy, with no website, though you can find out more about his work (as Kinoshita did) at artists-on-paper website Paper Monster.

Or you can just drop into Mineral and admire the work. Filled with hieroglyphic detail, the drawings are mostly pen-and-handmade-ink, with a few watercolors thrown in. There's an incredibly complex world map of bombers with boots on, soldiers with chicken feet, arrows, flowers, hands sprouting legs and mystical symbols. There's a city (New York, obviously) whose window-filled towers curve around to form a serpent's head, poking out a don't-care tongue.

The most esoteric of all are squares filled with so much repeated, visually complicated detail that they look like computer motherboards, all tiny curves and elipses on the kind of beige background that makes you think of treasure maps. (see above) Actually, these are designs for real Turkish rugs, which Maddock is soon taking to carpetmakers in Turkey. They're mesmerizing.

And just when your eye has started to blur, Maddock sweeps you up with a painterly style, in which vaguely dragonish figures spout watercolor mist and disembodied people with sad eyes float in a miasma made up of ink-drawn letters and flowers.

Mineral is an art and designer jewelry space at 901 Puyallup Ave, Tacoma, in the Dome District. Hours: 12-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. "Bombfroilcatnek" is up through Sept. 17. 253-250-7745, www.lisakinoshita.com