davidwford.com

Skirting the ethical

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2008

Skirting the ethical.

Jacobs, Carol.

Stanford U. Press

2008

223 pages

$24.95

Paperback

Meridian, crossing aesthetics

PN49

In six texts ranging from a classical Greek play to a recent movie, Jacobs (comparative literature and German languages and literatures, Yale U.) argues that the conventional ethical position ostensibly offered veils a resistance to prescriptive ethics and invites readers to speculate on alternatives.

([c]20082005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)

Model World.

Interior Design, October, 2008

by Benjamin Budde

Showroom apartments, large-scale art, and cutting-edge architecture come together in a South Korea building by Unsangdong Architects

When visiting a model apartment with a mind to buying your own pied-a-terre, is it enough simply to examine your future home’s layout, fixtures, and furnishings? Unsangdong Architects, led by principals Yoon Gyoo Jang and Chang Hoon Shin, are betting that apartment buyers want to know much more than that. So when their firm was hired by the giant South Korean real estate …

A step in the right direction; Walk-in health centre opened

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), March 4, 2008

Byline: By JANE PICKEN Health Reporter

PEOPLE with minor injuries will now be able to get instant treatment at a new walk-in centre.

The clinic, at the pounds 8m Molineux Street NHS Centre, Byker, Newcastle, has opened its doors to patients with a range of problems.

Anyone suffering from a cut, burn, strain, sprain or minor eye injury can go there for treatment without an appointment.

It is hoped the facility will alleviate pressure on the nearby accident and emergency department at Newcastle General Hospital.

Newcastle Primary Care Trust’s director of community services, Maurya Cushlow, said: “I’m delighted to have another new health service opening in the city.

“Health centres like Molineux Street provide people with access to modern health services in the heart of their community, meaning more people can be treated near to where they live rather than going to hospital.

“This minor injury walk-in service is the latest in a range of healthcare services available from Molineux Street and is easily accessible for people who live nearby.”

Parliamentary Undersecretary for Health Services Ann Keen officially opened the centre. It is the second walk-in centre for Newcastle, after one opened near Central Station in May 2006.

Molineux already provides a range of other health services to people living in the east end of the city.

It is home to two GP practices, a podiatry service, dentists, retinal screening, dressing clinics, X-ray facilities and operating suites for minor surgery.

Molineux Street NHS Centre also has a special primary care response team, which provides around-the-clock access to services helping people stay at home rather than go to hospital.

It also supports people at the end of life so they can remain at home with their families.

The minor injury centre is open 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.

Patients will be seen by experienced nurse practitioners, including some who can prescribe medicines.

Medics will not treat children under the age of two and parents should take youngsters to the Royal Victoria Infirmary’s minor injury unit or the nearest accident and emergency department.

For more information, or to check what can be treated at the centre, call (0191) 275 5862.

CAPTION(S):

LAUNCH: Ann Keen officially opens the health centre in Byker with MP Nick Brown; NEW FACILITY: The Molineux Street NHS Centre

Costumed Drama

Stage Directions, Jan 2009 by Cusack, Tim

There’s a way to avoid the madness.

Some of the most fraught moments I’ve ever experienced in the theatre have focused around costuming. Many years ago when attempting an illconceived production of Wilde’s Salome as a neophyte director, the lead actress and I got into a horrible (and, in retrospect, embarrassing) screaming match over the yellow color of her dress. She insisted that yellow made her look sickly. I insisted that she looked fine (especially since I wanted there to be something “off” about the character). Besides, even if I had agreed, I knew I couldn’t ask for the costume to be re-dyed because, by that point, my poor costume designer was at her breaking point – 72 hours of near-continuous sewing will do that to a person – and we were opening the next day. After much cajoling (between bouts of temper), browbeating and just plain stubborn insistence, I coaxed the actress into the costume, which she wore, albeit unhappily, for the entire run. I justified my actions by pretending that the dress making her miserable was somehow “feeding” her interpretation of the Judean princess.

Eventually my diva dynamo (who’s now a male social worker, but that’s another story) and I reconciled. But the episode was a huge lesson, both as a director and as a producer, in the importance of proper planning when it comes to the clothes I ask people to don onstage. In the 15 years since, I’ve managed to diffuse that kind of situation before it went to total nuclear meltdown, but I’ve certainly witnessed my share of squirm-inducing moments of actors refusing to wear certain items of clothing. While conflicts will inevitably arise, it’s a lot easier and financially feasible to deal with them if the other aspects of your costume plot have been effectively attended to and budgeted for.

To get some guidance in avoiding potential costuming snags, I turned to a seasoned pro, David ZyIa. ZyIa comes with an impressive CV, having designed for Broadway (the Big River revival) and TV (three Emmy nominations for All My Children). But he’s also well acquainted with the particular needs of indy companies, having worked at smaller regional and Downtown theatres. In fact, he’s accepted the challenge of designing the 12-actor, multi-character world premiere of William M. Hoffman’s Cornbury: The Queen’s Governor for absurdly little money – which my company, Theatre Askew, is premiering in late January.

It turns out that just by approaching ZyIa to do our production, we were already ahead of the game – of course, it helped that we are doing a new play by an important playwright. According to ZyIa, producers should “reach high- if you’ve got an interesting project, a more established designer might be willing to do it for much less than their usual fee. You get his or her expertise and avoid lots of potential pitfalls.” In return, ZyIa recommends that your organization “offer them the use of an intern who can be groomed for the future.” The designer gets much-needed assistance, and you get someone on your team who can apply his or her knowhow to other company projects.

Another important factor to keep in mind, especially when working on period pieces like Cornbury, is that you will most likely be dealing with stock houses. ZyIa has some helpful tips that producers should keep in mind when renting costumes. He mentions one element that often gets overlooked – dry cleaning. “Always remember to factor in the cost of cleaning the costumes in your overall budget, and be sure to ask the vendor if they want to do the dry cleaning themselves or If they expect the articles of clothing to be returned already cleaned. Never assume that you can alter, distress or dye a piece another color without asking first,” ZyIa cautions. Also be sure to double-check a shipment as soon as you receive it for quantity and quality. The rental house should include a packing slip with every box of costumes – if you’ve ordered 10 pairs of breeches, it behooves you to make sure that all 10 have arrived in wearable condition.

According to ZyIa, “A good rental house should be honest about the quality of their stock,” but it’s completely acceptable to request samples of pieces ahead of time to get a sense of how well a particular company maintains its costumes. To make this process easier, ZyIa suggests that producers maintain a FedEx account. Simply ask the vendor to overnight samples using your company’s shipping number. If they arrive overly stained and/or dry-rotted, return them immediately with a polite note stating that the director and designer have decided to go in another creative direction, and the production won’t be needing these particular costumes after all. In this case, a little white lie saves face on all sides and maintains good relations going forward