Interplayers Exercises Its First Dibs On Vogel Play

One of the plays in the Interplayers Ensemble’s just-announced 1998-99 season certainly caught our attention: “How I Learned To Drive” by Paula Vogel.

This controversial play just won the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Yes, but that’s not why it caught our attention. It’s the exact same play that the Spokane Civic Theatre announced for its 1998-99 season.

The Civic put it on the schedule hoping that it could secure the rights, but it was taken out of the running when Interplayers decided to pick it up. As a professional theater, Interplayers gets first choice.

The rest of the season consists of Interplayers’ characteristic mix of literate classics and recent New York sensations:

* “Absent Friends” - A 1975 comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, a longtime favorite with Spokane audiences. Sept. 18-Oct. 10.

* “The Firebugs” - A 1961 satire about an arson outbreak, by Swiss playwright Max Frisch. Oct. 23-Nov. 14.

* “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” - Alfred Uhry’s comedy-drama about the social event of the season in Atlanta. It was this year’s Best Play Tony-winner. Nov. 27-Dec. 19.

* “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard” - Israel Horovitz’s story about the toughest high school teacher in Gloucester. Jan. 29-Feb. 20.

* “Angel Street” - Patrick Hamilton’s psychological thriller about a husband’s attempt to drive his wife insane. You may remember it as the film “Gaslight.” March 5-27.

* “How I Learned to Drive” - Paula Vogel’s funny and devastating tale of an uncle who provided her with driving lessons and more. April 9-May 1.

The last show of the season will be a wild-card spot. Interplayers is hoping to pick up Broadway’s current smash, “Art,” if it becomes available.

For season ticket information, call 455-PLAY.

The Duke switches spots

Speaking of theater seasons, there will be a slight alteration in the Spokane Civic Theatre’s Main Stage season.

Patty Duke in “The Glass Menagerie” will move from the season’s opening slot to the Feb. 19-March 13 slot. The show previously announced for that time period, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” moves to the opening slot, Oct. 2-30.

This change was made necessary because of a conflict with the big “Patty Duke Show” reunion.

Fortunately, this did not derail “The Glass Menagerie” project completely. I’m looking forward to seeing Coeur d’Alene’s own Oscar- and Emmy-winner in this Tennessee Williams masterpiece.

Everclear in the evergreens

Everclear, the pop-punk-rock band with Spokane roots, has been booked into the Silver Mountain Amphitheater on June 23 at 7 p.m. Marcy Playground is also on the bill.

Tickets, all general admission, are $21 and go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. through all G&B Select-a-Seat outlets.

Sweeney sitcom picked up

News from the WB network: “Baby Blues,” an animated series featuring the voice of Spokane’s Julia Sweeney, has been given the green light. It’s based on the popular comic strip, and Sweeney does the voice of the mother.

It will be a midseason replacement next winter, if all goes well.

Of course, this means next to nothing for us in Spokane, since we don’t even have a WB affiliate.

Sweeney’s other sitcom, “George & Leo” on CBS, has not been picked up for next year.

See what its Warhol about

Andy Warhol’s “Self-Portrait” just sold for over $2.2 million at Christie’s. And Warhol’s “Orange Marilyn” just set a record when it sold for $17.3 million at Sotheby’s.

Warhol, in other words, is hot.

I mention this only to remind you that four Warhol works are still on display at the Cheney Cowles Museum through June 14 in its “From Soup to Nuts: Pop Art & Its Legacy” exhibit.

These include Warholian images of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Mao Tse-Tung, Richard Nixon and the famous Campbell’s Soup can.

The museum is open every day except Monday, including today from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Another Sinatra connection

A longtime Spokane broadcaster wrote to remind us of another local Frank Sinatra connection.

Sinatra was the majority owner of Spokane’s KNEW-AM (now KJRB-AM) from 1958 to 1963. Danny Kaye and his wife also owned a chunk of the station.

Sinatra was strictly an absentee owner, however. He never paid a visit to his station, as far as anybody knows.