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# Playwrights 6 to stage benefit of Gib Wallis's 'Solicitation' before New York Fringe
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-art-palette-making-arts-and-culture-come-alive-in-santa-monica-20060804/
- Published: 2006-08-04T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:29:41.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Promenade, #archive-import

Welcome to the Santa Monica Art Palette, Aug. 4\. Thankfully, it’s cooling off a bit, but it’s going to be a while before anyone in Santa Monica needs a sweater. There’s bilingual Japanese/English theatre on Friday, and the Powerhouse is previewing one of the Fugard’s brilliant plays that exposed the world and helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa. There are new banners on the Third Street Promenade that will delight and intrigue shoppers and residents alike and a special prize at the end of this week’s palette for participating in Creative Santa Monica, the city’s cultural plan currently underway.

New Third Street Promenade banners Take a walk on the Promenade this weekend so you can see the brand new set of banners designed by one of Santa Monica’s most prominent artists. Lita Albuquerque was selected by the Bayside District Corporation and the Santa Monica Arts Commission to create these rich and evocative art banners, collectively titled “Dark Iris.” Albuquerque describes the work as a tone poem that “imagines the earth as the iris of a universal eye, regulating light by expanding and contracting the pupil.” She hopes observers will have fun figuring out the meaning of the words and images. Albuquerque’s work can be found worldwide from Tokyo to Cairo to Downtown Los Angeles. “Dark Iris” is her first public art installation in her home-town of Santa Monica.

Let’s Have It Both Ways! On Friday, the Santa Monica Playhouse will showcase a new family friendly bi-lingual musical “game show” exploring the differences, and similarities, of cultures 8,000 miles apart, as seen through the eager eyes of a group of Japanese and American “contestants,” created and performed by the members of Japan’s Model Language Studio, artistic director Masa Ota, Santa Monica Playhouse Education Conservatory and the Young Professionals’ Company, directed by Chris DeCarlo.

Friday, Aug. 4; 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Santa Monica Playhouse 1211 Fourth St. (310) 394-9779, ext. 2 for reservations The Island The Powerhouse Theatre renews their partnership with the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble to present a new production of Athol Fugard’s “The Island.” The play is based on the true story of Norman Ntshinga, a black actor cast as Haemon in a version of Antigone that Fugard directed in the ’60s. During a police raid, the actor was arrested on suspicion of being a member of the then-banned African National Congress and sentenced to 10 years at Robben Island — the same notorious prison that once held Nelson Mandela. The play opens next weekend, but this weekend’s previews are free with any donation to the company.

The Powerhouse Theatre Company 3116 Second St. (310) 396-3680 Donation-based previews: Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5-6; 6-8 p.m. Performances: Friday and Saturday, Aug. 11-26; 8 p.m. $20 for general admission; $15 for students and seniors For reservations call (310) 396-3680 or e-mail

What do you treasure about Santa Monica? In planning for the future of arts and culture in our city, it is important to acknowledge the cherished icons of the past and present. What do you consider to be a Santa Monica treasure? It might be a person — an artist, a dancer or a singer. Maybe it’s a sculpture like the Chain Reaction or the Beacon overlooking the California Incline. Perhaps it’s a place, a theatre space that will always be special to you or a gallery that presents consistently wonderful work. Or maybe it’s something completely intangible like the freedom that Santa Monica gives her citizens to express themselves and create Creative Santa Monica wants to hear about your own personal Santa Monica treasures. The first two people to submit their ideas will get a special prize from Santa Monica’s cultural community. The Santa Monica Museum of Art has offered two free memberships that will be given away to the first two cultural treasure suggestions. Include a picture of your treasure and we’ll throw in a T-shirt. E-mail your treasure to — files not to exceed 5 megabytes — with a cc to

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 4, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)