THE MASON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

By Trish Mandes

George Mason University (GMU) has taken another giant step forward with the first Mason Festival of the Arts. Held from June 12-29, the event was brilliant. But brilliance is a commodity we have come to expect from GMU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA). The mission of the Festival -- “Create. Innovate. Educate.” – hints at its ambitious scale. Rick Davis, the Artistic Director of the Festival, assembled a staff of professionals and volunteers whose dedication to the arts is matchless. Fairfax’s own Gerry Connolly was the Honorary Chair of the Festival Board.

Kevin Murray, long recognized for his work with the Theater of the First Amendment (TFA), was the Managing Director, and Jim Maiwurm was the Festival Manager, a monumental task handled with aplomb. The three-week program was so vast, so comprehensive, so tempting that attendees might have been overwhelmed by the choices if the activities had not been coordinated so carefully. Perhaps you wanted to go to the Film Festival, but a play, a concert, and an opera were taking place simultaneously. Don’t worry; many were repeated at different times on different days, and you could savor a wide variety.

The Festival opened on Thursday evening, June 12 with a production of Mariela in the Desert. This stark, thought-provoking play, authored by Karen Zacarias, has never before been presented on the East Coast. It was followed on Friday by Two-Bit Taj Mahal, written by Mason’s own enormously talented Paul D’Andrea, the founder of TFA. Described by Davis as “lyrical and tough, sensuous and gritty,” Two-Bit Taj Mahal premiered at the Festival. Both dramas, which were given several times during the Festival, were greeted by enthusiastic audiences. CVPA Dean William Reeder acclaimed D’Andrea's opus as “the finest theatrical work of art by somebody I know that I’ve ever seen!”

The Community Arts Weekend was launched on June 14 and 15. From mid-morning until evening, families roamed happily around the campus, viewing films at the Johnson Center Cinema, sampling performances in the theaters and on the Arts Plaza, visiting exhibitors’ booths, looking at beautiful art, and enjoying marvelous music. Kathleen Stark, co-president of The Fairfax Art League, was justly proud of her organization’s exhibition at the Festival, and spectators were fascinated by the chance to see artists at work. Paintings, prints, and photographs by CVPA professors and students and by the Fairfax School Age Child Care Program’s students were displayed on every inch of available wall space. Free performances on the Spotlight and Sunlight Stages were amazing. The Voices of Merrifield, the gospel choir representing the First Baptist Choir of Merrifield, the Fairfax Jubil-Aires Barbershop Chorus, the Abdul Eshaggai-Afghan Dancers, the Al Williams Jazz Band – the list goes on and on. Who would believe that we have so much talent in Fairfax County!

TFA‘s First Light Discovery Program focuses on the development of new plays. In explaining First Light, Rick Davis noted, “We are offering four playwrights the exceptional opportunity to hear their plays worked on and read by professionals and to receive audience response.” At the Festival, the program’s results were impressive. Sarah Congress, a rising senior at Hayfield Secondary, won the high school competition for her drama, Boxes. Presented in a staged reading, which was directed by Shirley Serotsky, the play was engrossing. Full of one-liners, the dialogue kept viewers in stitches. An example was voiced by a newly-wed carrying boxes of his wife’s childhood collectibles into their first home: “There are so many tchatchkes in our apartment that it’s like living in a Hallmark store.” The language was poignant as well. In one of the vignettes, an older man sifted through a shoebox holding mementos of his dying wife. “Being in love is like being free,” he reflected. After the performance, the appreciative audience discussed the drama with the writer, director, and actors. Two comments summed up the reaction of many of us: “The pieces were beautifully rendered,” observed one viewer, while another murmured wonderingly to Sarah Congress, “You are so young to have captured all those emotions.”

Although artists from all disciplines were represented at the Mason Festival of the Arts, it was produced by The Theater of the First Amendment. The reason for TFA’s prominent role was space, a key concern at Mason’s burgeoning Fairfax campus. In 1990, TFA’s first year, the theater program had 30 majors. Even with Harris Theater, the Black Box, and TheaterSpace, the now more than 100 majors require all available space for their performances during the academic year. At a planning meeting not quite two years ago, a summer theater season was suggested by Dean Reeder, a leader of great vision. An inspiration, agreed his colleagues. Before long, however, the creative minds organizing the summer season had expanded it to a festival. “As inclusive as possible,” explained Davis, “since one of the hallmarks of great festivals is the variety of offerings. We think this Festival is a real showcase of the best of the arts of our region-- both from Mason and from the community-- and a real chance for people to come together in celebration of our own artistic vitality.” Move over, Spoleto!