Sherry Kleinman’s sewing machine is so smart it could probably be programmed to cook dinner. In fact, her Viking Husqvarna offers a dizzying number of stitches, free motion and embroidery options. As soon as the Pacific Palisades resident took the plunge and bought this amazing machine’to fill the void left by her last daughter’s departure for college in 2004’her artistic horizons exploded. When we think of quilts, we usually visualize bed quilts whose timeless patterns have been stitched in quilting circles across America from its founding days. Kleinman is drawn to art quilts, which resemble traditional quilts in assembly only (two pieces of fabric held together by stitching) but celebrate the artist’s creative imagination. Art quilts, which can be as riotous as a Pollock canvas or as realistic as a Stieglitz urbanscape, are enjoying an explosion in popularity as evidenced by the many entries in the nation’s top juried quilt exhibitions. Kleinman herself will be the featured quilter at the Santa Monica Quilt Guild’s Quilt Show on June 13-14 at Loyola Marymount University.   From the time she learned to sew in 7th grade while growing up in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Kleinman has kept her needle sharp, making costumes for her daughters Courtney, Stephanie and Brittany and undertaking numerous home decoration projects.   After she and her husband Steven moved to Pacific Palisades in 1974, Sherry was a fulltime homemaker until the girls were older, when she worked in Steve’s dental office in Westwood.   With her new sewing machine, Kleinman rekindled her love for fiber. ‘I started by making a traditional bed quilt,’ she says. ‘I had so much fun cutting out fabric pieces that what I had imagined to be a small coverlet grew and grew.’ In short order, however, she realized that she didn’t like following other people’s patterns. She took a class from award-winning fiber artist Terry Waldron, who encouraged her to treat cloth as she would canvas. ‘I immediately grew out of pieced work [fabric pieces are sewn together in sections] to experiment with free form and raw edge [just take fabric and cut it], and appliqu’ techniques,’ Kleinman says.   New ideas bombarded her senses, which she was able to fashion into quilts. ‘I began to love the experience of seeing what was possible,’ says Kleinman, who explored portraits as subjects that she painted with acrylics, textile paints or water-soluble colored pencils. She prowled thrift shops and fabric stores for material, or dyed her own. ‘Most quilters are fabric-aholics,’ she admits.   She joined the Santa Monica Quilt Guild, an organization of some 150 like-minded quilters who meet once a month for lectures, and she wouldn’t miss meeting with her mini group of six to 10 quilters who call themselves the Fiber Fanatics. ‘We get together to share ideas, discuss techniques; it’s great for mentoring one another,’ she says. Sure enough, in 2005, another woman in the group suggested that she enter juried shows.   Quilt shows, like quilt makers, have multiplied at craft fairs, regional festivals and dedicated exhibitions all across the country, and a number of them have become as prestigious as any of the fine-art biennials.   Last year Kleinman went to all the major competitions, including the ‘Artist as Quiltmaker’ in Oberlin, Ohio; the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, which draws some 50,000 for a weekend; and ‘Art Quilt Elements’ in Wayne, Pennsylvania, considered the premier art quilt festival on the East Coast.   ’I didn’t know what I was doing that first year, so I entered in both the Pennsylvania and Ohio shows’and was accepted,’ Kleinman admits. ‘There was no way I could be at both shows, so I accepted one and called the Ohio organizers to explain.’ This was a serious misstep, but not, as it turned out, a career breaker. The organizers accepted Kleinman’s naivet’, but withdrew the Judges Choice award she was to receive and gave her an honorable mention instead.   Kleinman’s dream is to be accepted into the Quilt National, held every two years in a converted barn in Athens, Ohio. ‘I’ve tried twice,’ she says, and will apply again this year. ‘I know of a person who applied seven times and was finally accepted. They gave her an award for her tenacity.’   In order to submit work to these various shows, Kleinman has to have the inventory. ‘A few years ago, David Limrite, director of the Brentwood Art Center, pushed me to develop a body of work,’ she says. ‘A body of work is defined by a unifying principle, such as portraits or using a similar technique. I decided I was going to blend my love of fiber art with my painting, which was really exciting to me.’   She often finds inspiration from photographs; such as the photo of the Marrakech spice market her daughter Stephanie shot, or the portraits that she paints from live models in her Brentwood Art Center classes, which she has continued for the past 18 years.   She usually has several projects going at the same time. ‘I need to stand back and look, especially when I’m not quite sure where I’m going. Then, often there is ‘light bulb’ moment.’   But it’s this seat-of-her-pants inspiration that Kleinman loves. ‘I do have a general plan for a piece, but what works best for me is not really knowing where I’ll end up.   ’I think my basic thing is that I don’t like to follow patterns. I often made my kids’ costumes without patterns. When my kids were born, I was a fulltime mom, and I remember that as soon as my husband would come home from work, I’d run out to the Crazy Ladies fabric store in Santa Monica, not necessarily to buy, often just to touch the fabrics.’   Kleinman is the featured artist at the Santa Monica Quilt Guild show on Saturday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, June 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Burns Recreation Center, Loyola Marymount University in Westchester. Visitors should enter from Lincoln Blvd. Parking is free; admission is $7 at the door. Contact: www.santamonicaquiltguild.org.

Teacher Jeff Lantos and a troupe of Marquez Elementary fifth graders and Paul Revere thespians present the latest study of American history through musical theater this weekend. The play ‘Plymouth 2.0,’ will debut on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Broad Theater, 1310 11th St. in Santa Monica. Based on a short story by Nathanial Hawthorne, the production takes up the drama between the Pilgrim settlers at Plymouth and Thomas Morton, who founded the nearby community of Merrymount. Moving to the Broad is a boon for Lantos and his method of teaching history through music and song, which caught the attention of 2009 Festival of New American Musicals producers. The four-month festival, produced by Marcia Seligson (UCLA’s Reprise! producing artistic director), Bob Klein (Reprise! founding board member) and producer/performer Linda Shusett, is home to full productions, staged readings, workshops of musicals in progress, cabaret events, concerts and master classes offered in and around Los Angeles. This effort to celebrate the importance of musical theater, apart from the big blockbuster Broadway productions, began with Klein, who headed the Reprise! company’s effort to market Broadway revivals. ‘When we began running into trouble getting the rights to revivals because New York had already optioned so many of them, I figured that we had to slide into new shows,’ Klein told the Palisadian-Post. ‘We came up with the premise that there was something going on in musical theater. I thought of it as a renaissance, reminiscent of the 1984 Olympic celebration of the musical returning to the center of popular theater.’ Klein consulted with Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz (‘Wicked’) and Michael Kerker, director of musical theatre of ASCAP, the major organization that represents American theater composers. ‘As we started on this year’s festival, Linda [Shusett] said that her neighbor was Jeff Lantos,’ Klein said. ‘We went to a rehearsal of ‘Hello Louisiana,’ his musical history of the Louisiana Purchase, and we videotaped the performance for our Web site. In the meantime, we talked to [Broad Stage Artistic Director] Dale Franzen, who helped arrange the premiere of Jeff’s newest play.’ Lantos was able to come up with the match for the $4,000 grant from the Carnation Milk Foundation to pay the Broad’s union fees. Lantos, who brought the Declaration of Independence to life with ‘Miracle at Philadelphia,’ and recaptured the Industrial Revolution with ‘Water and Power,’ characterizes ‘Plymouth 2.0’ as ‘Woodstock meets the Religious Right.’ The Merrymount colonists personify jollity and dance around a maypole, while the Puritans are the emblems of gloom. The love between Morton and a good girl from Plymouth complicates the plot even more. The show, with book and lyrics by Lantos and music by Bill Augustine, features a multi-grade cast of Marquez and Paul Revere students, who participated in Lantos’ fifth-grade productions at Marquez. The choreography is by Jeanette Mills, a Palisades High School and UCLA graduate. With high hopes for exporting his pedagogy to other schools, Lantos says that UCLA Professor of Education Jim Stigler wanted to test the hypothesis that fourth and fifth grade elementary school students comprehend and retain history lessons better than those who study in a conventional manner. He studied kids with a similar demographic profile and economic status; the results showed that the musical theater kids had double the retention of the others. In a follow-up to the study, Stigler will offer a class to education students that allows them to apprentice with Lantos in his classroom and learn his method. Lantos is encouraged by the idea, adding that Marquez principal Phil Hollis is on board as well. During his 15 years teaching at Marquez, Lantos has also produced ‘Miracle at Philadelphia,’ ‘Carry On’ (about the battle to integrate public schools) and ‘Lewis and Clark.’ He rotates three of his shows throughout the curriculum. For tickets to ‘Plymouth 2.0’ ($15 and $30) visit www.stareventtickets.org.

When Theatre Palisades debuts director Lew Hauser’s production of ‘Smokey Joe’s Caf’: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller’ tomorrow night at the Pierson Playhouse, it won’t be a musical in the traditional sense. ‘It’s a musical revue,’ says Martha Hunter, who co-produced the Theater Palisades’ version with Shirley Churgin. ‘There’s no dialogue, it’s not a play. ‘Smokey Joe’s’ opened in Los Angeles in 1994 and went to Broadway and was a big hit. I saw it at Harrod’s in Tahoe about 10 years ago. I went to see it and it was fabulous. Every song is a knock-out.’ With good reason. Essentially, ‘Smokey Joe’s’ fuses a loose narrative around nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s loaded with hit songs by the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. They include tunes popularized by Elvis Presley and the Coasters and other chart-toppers, such as ‘Hound Dog,’ ‘Yakety Yak,’ ‘Charlie Brown,’ ‘On Broadway,’ and ‘Stand by Me.’ ‘Everyone will sing along, I’m sure!’ Hunter says, adding that Theatre Palisades decided on ‘Smokey Joe’s’ because a 2006 staging of ‘Buddy,’ based on the life and music of pioneer rocker Buddy Holly, ‘was a huge success. I think because of the baby boomers in the area. They came and it was fabulous.’ Returning to direct Theatre Palisades’ annual musical production is Hauser. ‘Lew has been directing musicals in our theater for 20 years or more,’ Hunter says. Hauser directed the last two musicals for Theatre Palisades, ‘The Boyfriend’ and last year’s ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.’ ‘I’m in the double digits,’ director Lew Hauser tells the Palisadian-Post, smiling, regarding the number of times he’s mounted shows at the Pierson. ‘But this was a specialty revue, which is a whole different animal from a musical play. You have to stage numbers as well. It’s quite a challenge. You have to get the right voices as well.’ Hauser is quick to credit his ‘Smokey’s’ co-director and choreographer, Victoria Miller. ‘This requires the work of a choreographer more than anything else,’ Hauser says. He also singles out Brian Murphy, his musical director. And then there are, of course, the singers themselves. A Pacific Palisades resident of 11 years, actress Michelle Tuthill has always had a funny relationship with ‘Smokey Joe’s,’ even if it can largely be associated with rejection. ‘I have always wanted to do ‘Smokey Joe’s and the funny thing is, I was up for it on Broadway and at the final callback, it was down to me and five other girls,’ she says. ‘Then I auditioned for the L.A. production and it was down to five girls and I didn’t get the role.’ The polished singer/actress, who has toured for the USO with the Michelle Tuthill Rock ‘n Soul Review, appeared on Broadway and on such TV variety shows as ‘Star Search,’ noticed that they were now casting for a ‘Smokey Joe’s’ production near her home, on Sunset near PCH, which she shares with her boyfriend and two cats. ‘It’s literally two minutes from my house,’ Tuthill says. ‘You can’t beat that!’ Ironically, Tuthill did not land her role, one of nine parts, because she lives in Pacific Palisades. In fact, Theatre Palisades had some bad luck with casting, which turned out to be Tuthill’s stroke of fortune. ‘They couldn’t find the person for this part. They kept auditioning and Brian Murphy happened to put it on Craigslist. It was like divine guidance.’ Third time appears to be the charm for Tuthill, who will finally get her lead part in the Theatre Palisades version. ‘They said if they hadn’t cast me that night they would’ve scrapped the show,’ Tuthill says. ‘I’ve been jonesing to do this show! I can’t wait!’ Also involved in this production is supervisor Ann Major. ‘She wanted to get more involved with our theater and volunteered to do our costumes,’ Hunter says. Major, who has four children with cinematographer Gil Hubbs, has been a Palisadian since 1987. The seasoned costumer has worked on such television series as ‘General Hospital’ and the first season of ‘Hannah Montana.’ Major decided to give a local stage show a try. ‘My husband and I are both believers in giving back to the community,’ Major says. ‘And it’s fun, I love what I do. It’s a period piece. We’re trying to set it in the late 1950s/early 1960s. It’s a challenge with the budget, but it’s coming together pretty well. The idea is to give it a flavor of the era, to enhance the songs because it’s really about the singing and dancing.’ ‘I’m very impressed with the cast,’ Major says. ‘They’re all extremely talented.’ ‘We have an incredible cast,’ Hauser says. ‘We spent three weeks casting the show and they were worth the wait.’ ‘Smokey Joe’s Caf’ plays through July 19. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets: Friday and Sunday, adults, $20, seniors and students, $18; Saturday, adults, $22, seniors and students $20. Contact: 310- 454-1970 or visit www.theatrepalisades.org