Instense organic art

By Daily Press staff

The Lowe Gallery in Santa Monica is proud to present the work of organic abstractionist Mark Perlman.

With a rich mixture of intense color and a seemingly bottomless mass of encaustic wax, Mark Perlman explores intricacies of the natural world. Detaching himself from order and never knowing how it’s going to end is how Perlman creates the visual diaries that capture both time and place. Deep etched markings recall prehistoric cave paintings at the same time that bright hues indicate a new day on the horizon. Perlman’s paintings tell a history that belongs to man and nature simultaneously; his paintings are signposts where the human and natural worlds merge.

The show will run through Saturday, Dec. 16. The Lowe Gallery is located at 2034 Broadway.

For more information, call (310) 449-018 or visit www.lowegallery.com.



Tapping Upstairs

By Daily Press staff

The Upstairs Studio Tap Dancers, a group that meets for tap dance classes in Venice and regularly includes dancers from Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades and other Westside communities, will perform a dance show on Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 at Santa Monica’s Miles Playhouse. All proceeds will benefit the LA Jazz Society’s Mentorship Program, aiding high school and college musicians.

“A Tap Tribute to Jazz” will include performances set to classic tunes such as “I’ve got Rhythm,” “Tea for Two” and “Steppin’ Out,” among others, with special guest performances by Miriam Nelson, Rusty Frank, Mark Marchillo and The Rassamatappers, in addition to the studio’s dancers.

Admission is $15. Purchase tickets by calling Darlene at (310) 455-1176 or The Upstairs Studio at (310) 396-9307. For more information, go to the Web site at www.upstairs.com.



Café Plays do it fast

By Daily Press staff

The monthly installment of the Ruskin Group Theatre’s popular “LA Café Plays” — dubbed the “Fastest Theater in Town” because five short plays go from conception to execution in just 10 and a half hours — will be staged on Sunday, Nov. 19. The theme will be “Thanksgiving.”

The “Café Plays” will be held at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Drive at Santa Monica Airport.

The “Café Plays” have won praise from audiences and the press alike. For example, the Los Angeles Times said that “audiences revel in the 10 and a half-hour creation cycle of five one-act plays, bound by a common theme and locale — all must take place in a café — but otherwise are as diverse as the minds from which they spring.”

And the “Café Plays” will be featured in an upcoming article in LA Stage magazine about unusual theatre in Los Angeles.

At 9 a.m. the day of the performance, five writers gather at Back on Broadway, a café-restaurant in Santa Monica. Each writer picks, at random, two manila envelopes containing actors’ headshots. They are then given four hours to write a seven- to 10-page one-act play that takes place in a café. The directors then take over, meet their actors and begin rehearsals.

Tickets for “LA Café Plays” are $10. Call (310) 397-3244 or go to http://www.ruskingrouptheatre.com.