While on the road covering Susitna Valley sports, I was recently asked whether Talkeetna continues to be an artsy or artistic town. My answer was a resounding yes. Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to peruse the Denali Arts Council’s website, and, of course, check out one of their events. There is a particularly good one coming up, The Complexities of Love. Performed annually on, or as close as possible, to Valentine’s weekend, it is a thematic variety show. Complexities is the brain child of Joe Page, a man who is Talkeetna famous in a variety of fields of endeavor. Joe is the driving force behind many theatrical events in Talkeetna, and was the primary force behind the creation of Talkeetna’s center for the performing and visual arts, The Sheldon Community Arts Hangar.
Complexities was born 11 years ago. Joe’s concept was to take poignantly dramatic and/or humorous scenes from a variety of well known plays and marry them to form an inspirational and/or cautionary tale about the pleasure and/or pain of love. I was lucky enough to be in the first two Complexities, reaching my all-time acting low point as Stanley Kowalski in a scene from Streetcar. All I did was scare all the kids. However, in the first year, I was allowed to perform with Talkeetna heavyweights, Chris Mannix and Jessica Stevens, in a scene from Cyrano De Bergerac, and play my all-time favorite role as Sganarelle, Dom Juan’s equerry. I’m still not sure what half the words meant, but boy were the soliloquies fun.
Complexities of Love runs from the 12th through the 14th.
In addition, meeting season is in full swing in Talkeetna. This week has already seen a Talkeetna Community Council meeting, a Main Street Committee meeting, a Railroad Committee meeting, and an organizational meeting for the Oosik Classic. The what? The Denali Arts Council has just engaged in a series of meetings to plan out the organization’s future. You are invited to attend the Denali Arts Council’s Board of Directors meeting on Monday night, February 8th at 6 pm at the Talkeetna Roadhouse. These meetings are always open to the public. If you have questions, or want to be on the agenda, you may call the Denali Arts Council’s office at (907)-733-7929. The DAC’s Board meetings are monthly, and are held on the second Monday of the month.
