Like the readers of her books, many of Deborah Nourse Lattimore’s characters are children. With names like Merit, Frida, Two Flint and Kwan Yin, they come from diverse cultures and centuries long past. Some travel through dangerous lands and battle evil spirits in a quest for justice; others struggle to obey their elders while preserving their individual identities. These insightful young crusaders ask challenging questions and often have something to learn or teach about moral behavior, honesty and goodness. Lattimore, a Pacific Palisades resident who grew up in Beverly Hills in the 1950s, says she was always inventing stories as a child. Her imagination was fueled by frequent trips downtown to the old Los Angeles County Museum of Art with her grandmother, Leona Wilcox, who was a painter. They used to sketch together at the museum and at the Rose Garden in Exposition Park, remembers Lattimore, the youngest of three daughters raised by her grandmother. Growing up, ‘we all had diaries,’ she remembers. ‘Mine was about the Phoenicians.’ At the time, Lattimore says, there were few books on ancient history for children, so she looked at ones written for adults. The first picture book she owned was ‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead,’ a compilation of spells from different Egyptian dynasties which were said to help the deceased on the trip through the netherworld. In sixth grade, she began illustrating stories and won a local newspaper competition for her original story, ‘Egypt from the Camel’s Point of View.’ ‘When you feed a kid’s curiosity, you open doors,’ says Lattimore, who also used to play cello and sing. ‘The more art you see or music you hear that’s real, the more it’s a springboard to go off and do it yourself.’ Decades later, with a degree in art history and Egyptology from UCLA, she wrote and illustrated ‘The Winged Cat: A Tale of Ancient Egypt,’ designed in the style of the Egyptian Books of the Dead with hieroglyphics and pages painted to look like papyrus. Lattimore’s dozens of illustrated books combine many elements’mythology or history, art and fiction’and tell colorful stories with important messages for children. In ‘The Dragon’s Robe,’ a poor Chinese orphan named Kwan Yin (after the goddess of mercy) must weave an elaborate robe for the rain dragon in order to help an ill old man protect the land from evil. Through hard work, honor and persistence, she is able to complete the task. Lattimore’s intricate illustrations of ancient 13th-century Chinese landscapes seem to move and come alive on the pages. A brilliant rainbow-colored phoenix emerges from leaping flames, and the spirit of the rain dragon unleashes an ocean of rainwater that fills two pages with swirling color. Even the text boxes on each page are framed and adorned with imperial tassels, and some with partially woven images that evoke the work of Kwan Yin. This book earned Lattimore the 1991 PEN Center USA West Award in Children’s Literature. A similarly heroic tale is ‘The Fool and the Phoenix: A Tale of Old Japan,’ which is set during the Tokugawa dynasty’the greatest peace period in Japan’s history, dating from 1603 to 1868. Lattimore imagined what might happen if all was not peaceful and a small-town official became jealous of the shogun’s wealth. In an author’s note to this tale, she tells us that 20,000 works of art were produced during this period. Her own sweeping, detailed illustrations for the book cover every inch of the pages. ‘In poignant moments, the art has more diagonals,’ she points out. ‘It moves you across the page faster; it’s more emotional.’ Lattimore usually uses pen and watercolor for her illustrations, and prefers to paint on French d’Arches paper, a 90-lb. slick, hot-press paper because ‘you can work it hard and it’s forgiving.’ She learned a lot about the basics of art from her grandmother, who taught her how to look at color and draw perspective. ‘If you want a color to be really strong within itself, use three colors,’ Lattimore says, explaining that the sea could be blue, lavender and green, or three shades of blue. When she was 14, she got a scholarship to take college-level art classes at the Art Center College of Design, which used to be on Third Street and has since moved to Pasadena. The following year, she won the ACLU award for an original abstract oil painting about civil rights, a piece she later traded for a pair of gold-framed glasses. Some of her books are based on popular fairy tales or stories from her childhood. She created ‘Cinderhazel’ about a blond witch because she was frustrated with the perfect, obedient character of Cinderella. ‘As a little girl, I loved Cinderella but I wondered why she was so stupid,’ Lattimore says. ‘When the stepsisters leave the house, that’s when she should lock the door, because it’s her house!’ Asking questions, especially questions children would ask, is part of her artistic process. She and her grandmother used to ask all kinds of questions about the art they saw in the museum galleries. She remembers staring at an 18th-century painting of a woman in an extravagant dress, and her grandmother wondered what ‘marvelous undergarments’ the dame might have worn. Years later, Lattimore explored the use of undergarments around the globe and across history in ‘I Wonder What’s Under There?: A Brief History of Underwear.’ ‘You can see how an illustrator feels about a character by the way [he or she] has drawn the character’s undergarments’by the way they walk, the way their feet turn in or out,’ she says. Her interest in how people move physically when they’re dressed a certain way, inspired her to write a humorous story set in 18th-century France called ‘The Lady with the Ship on her Head.’ She captured the authentic furniture and big, ornate dresses of the time by studying art in museums, researching the period at the library and visiting MGM’s costume collection. She used acrylic paste to give the pages a canvas look as a backdrop for her elaborate illustrations. Lattimore has used modeling paste to duplicate limestone and to create fresco-like paintings. In ‘Frida Maria: A Story of the Old Southwest,’ set in 19th-century California, she used watercolor and colored pencil over the paste to authenticate her illustrations of the art and architecture from missions of the time. The rough lines and scratches add texture to the lively paintings, as if readers can feel the cool tiles or the dust rising under the horse’s hooves. Lattimore’s family had a keen interest in California history and lore, and she spent many afternoons at Olvera Street, where her mother performed as a flamenco dancer. Her grandmother told her stories about the ranchos of the Old Southwest, and she remembered one in particular about a famous horse race in 1842, when Jos’ Sepulveda (from Los Angeles) and Pio Pico (from San Diego) pitted their horses and towns against each other. That story inspired ‘Frida Maria.’ ‘I try to write stories that have some kind of threat involved,’ she says. ‘But I’ll never kill a kid or make fun of a kid in a story.’ Lattimore, who has traveled in Central America and Western and Eastern Europe, completed graduate work at UCLA in Near Eastern languages and pre-Columbian, Egyptian, and classical art history. She’s been teaching in the writer’s program at UCLA for about 18 years, as well as teaching art at Pasadena Art Center and four-part workshops on bookmaking with Every Picture Tells a Story. She’s currently working on a comprehensive picture book of ancient Egyptian mythology and a graphic novel for middle-school students called ‘The Attack of the Giant Liver.’ A mother to two grown children, Lattimore says she hopes her books will encourage kids to ask questions”even if they’re nosy and rude questions.’

Wedding Bells for Little and Rimando Paulette and Richard Little of Pacific Palisades are pleased to announce the wedding of their daughter, Jacqui Little, to Nick Rimando. The sunset ceremony was on the beach in Malibu with the reception following at the Sunset Cafe. The bride grew up in the Palisades and attended local schools, including St. Matthew’s and Marymount High School. She graduated from Santa Clara University and pursued a professional soccer career with the women’s league. She met Nick while playing for the Washington Freedom in D.C., where he was playing for the MLS D.C. United team. Nick grew up in Montclair, CA, attending grade and high school there. He attended UCLA and played goalie on the men’s soccer team. After the wedding, the couple honeymooned in Hawaii. They currently reside in Virginia, where Jacqui has started a career in pharmaceutical sales and Nick still plays for D.C. United. Lindsey Rosso, David Hansen Are Engaged Bob and Robin Rosso of Westlake Village have announced the engagement of their daughter, Lindsey, to David Hansen, son of Dr. Billie Phelps of Pacific Palisades. The bride-to-be is a 1999 graduate of Chaminade College Preparatory. She graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 2003 with a B.A. in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She is currently a third-year law student at the University of Southern California Law Center and will join the law firm of Van Etton, Suzumoto & Becket in Century City next fall. The bridegroom-to-be is a 1999 graduate of Harvard-Westlake School. He attended UC San Diego, where he played on the golf team and graduated with honors with a B.A. in economics. David is also a third-year law student at USC and will join the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in the fall. The wedding is set for October 7 at Spanish Hills Country Club in Camarillo. Ana Reyes, Brent Cesare Announce Engagement Antonio and Dale Reyes, residents of Pacific Palisades, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Ana Lisa Reyes, to Brent Anthony Cesare. The couple plan to marry on July 29 in Palos Verdes. Ana Lisa graduated from Cal State Northridge with a degree in child development and received her recreational therapy degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition, she has become a certified integral yoga instructor. She is currently teaching stress management and leisure education at Peachford Hospital in Atlanta. Brent Anthony Cesare graduated from the University of Richmond Virginia and received his doctorate in physical therapy from Emory University in Atlanta. He is currently working at the Atlanta Back Clinic as an Orthopedic Physical Therapist specializing in back and neck treatment. The couple met while attending VCU and will reside in Atlanta.

To know that your life is going to be cut short prematurely is a particularly brutal life lesson. Some people with a few years or even months to live let go of the inessential and live fully, some retreat inward and others, like Amy Farber, are inspired towards altruism. Farber, 35, learned last spring that her vague feelings of abdominal discomfort were a symptom of lymphangioleimyomatosis, LAM, a very rare, progressive fatal lung disease. A low blow for its victims, LAM evades immediate diagnosis and, because it affects mostly young women, it cuts short a vibrant life and often young motherhood. Raised and educated in the Palisades, Farber has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Harvard and was well on her way to a law degree. Married last year, she and her husband Michael Nurok, a fellow in cardiothoracic anesthesia in Boston, were planning to start a family when Amy’s life spun into a vortex. It started with fatigue and slight discomfort in her back, which initial routine tests could not explain. ‘I was convinced it was stress; stress always is a plausible explanation,’ Amy said while home recently for a visit. ‘But I knew something wasn’t right so I pressed for a CT test, which revealed a small mass near the kidneys and at the base of the lungs.’ She was referred to a pulmonologist, who told her the findings were ‘suggestive of something I couldn’t pronounce. I lost my ability to speak and my ability to hear because I couldn’t process as fast as bad news was coming.’ What is LAM? Lymph refers to the lymphatic system, angio to blood, lie to fat or benign tumors, myo to smooth muscle tissue and matosis to the proliferating process. ‘An ugly name for an ugly disease,’ Farber confirmed. ‘LAM [lamb] doesn’t really cut it; LAM kills women by suffocating them to death. It gets your entire lungs.’ Farber, who has become an ambassador for generating interest and research dollars for LAM, says that it’s not hereditary, but rather, a sporadic, somatic mutation that only strikes women, particularly white middle class women. It took four months for Farber to be diagnosed with LAM, a relatively short time, she said of a disease that is often misdiagnosed. She attributes the accurate diagnosis to the fact that she lives in a medical mecca, where cutting-edge research and medical facilities abound. ‘I went to the NIH in Bethesda Maryland for further testing and after four or five days, I received my LAM diagnosis. I felt invisible, frightened, and cut off. I left with three months of vitamins and was told to avoid getting pregnant. ‘My family and I were so close, almost a single organism. When I hurt, they hurt. My husband was a pillar of strength and faith. ‘Anything can happen to anyone, any day, Michael said.” Farber said that the abrupt short circuit to her life threw her into confusion; she was at a crossroads. ‘I could change my life or I could return to the Amy people wanted me to be. I wanted to live, and it was clear to me that there was more I could do.’ She got in touch with Sen. Barbara Boxer to appeal to the Senate to continue with the protocols to study the disease. She also organized doctors, specialists and researchers to pool their knowledge and brainstorm potential therapies. By October, 2005, 30 to 40 laboratory heads were attending monthly seminars. Ten research projects structured to lead to a treatment for LAM have been planned, each estimated to cost $150,000. There has been some progress. The LAM Research Fast Track Fund at the Boston Foundation was established to accelerate the pace of promising LAM research. ‘We are in the process of creating our own foundation which will carry on the research,’ said Farber, who is also talking about strategic partnerships between drug companies’ research arms and academia, and welcomes entrepreneurial thinking. ‘LAM is remarkable,’ Farber said. ‘It is understood to be the result of a gene defect that lies on the pathway to many cancers. LAM is a dumb cancer. A hormonal link is understood. But how much is estrogen driven?’ It is a disease in which an unusual type of muscle cell invades the tissues of the lungs. As the disease progresses, these cells form bundles that grow into the walls of the airways and the vessels that carry blood and lymph, obstructing them. Eventually, as lung tissues become more abnormal, supplemental oxygen no longer works and patients suffocate. Because there are so few who have been diagnosed (worldwide, there are more than 250,000 women who are thought to have LAM), funding research is scarce. Instead, educating the public, building interest and raising money falls to those who have LAM, and their families and friends. ‘I give myself four years before my disease progresses to be irreversible,’ Farber said. ‘This is about awareness, women and cancer, larger things, especially for women. I am asking for your help. I’ll work harder and I’ll do whatever it takes.’ To donate to the LAM Research Fast Track Fund, you can send a check payable to the Boston Foundation/LAM Research Fast Track Fund c/o Boston Foundation, 75 Arlington St. Boston, MA 02116. Amy Farber can be reached at afarber@post.harvard.edu.

Theater Review

In Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” language is the most powerful’and popular’character. Sharp and sophisticated witticisms connect and drive the egocentric characters who love to hear themselves speak. ”Yet, while language is the glue, it requires a strong supporting cast. Director Peter Hall writes this about Wilde’s theatre: “Beneath the wit there is always an intense emotional reality. And if the actor doesn’t create that reality every night, then the plays may look facetious, even pointless: as if the actor has only one function’to stand on the stage and utter witticism after witticism and obscure what the play is really about.” ”In Hall’s Theatre Royal Bath production of “The Importance of Being Earnest,” which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre, some of that underlying emotion was missing. The talent was there’Lynn Redgrave, British character actress Miriam Margolyes and Terence Rigby’but it was difficult to get a sense of some of the other characters. ”When we initially meet Jack Worthing (aka “Ernest”), he’s uptight and colorless. It’s hard to believe that this is the character who has invented an imaginary brother so that he can escape country life for the pleasures of the city. ”In this role, James Waterston is unfortunately more of a dull Jack than a confident, charming Ernest. Waterson is better as Jack in the country’in the second act when he’s able to loosen up a bit. ”Even the brotherhood between Jack and the silly, emotionally extravagant Algernon Moncrieff (Robert Petkoff) is unconvincing. The scene in which Algernon provokes Jack to divulge the mystery behind the inscription on his cigarette case does not achieve the genuine playful quality that would help define their friendship and competitive camaraderie. ”However, Petkoff crafts an exuberant Algy, scheming but likable from the beginning because he is boyishly confident and charmingly na’ve. ”One of his best scenes comes in the second act when Algy has beaten Jack to the country, assumed the identity of Ernest, and fallen quickly in love with Jack’s ward, the pretty young Cecily (Charlotte Parry). First in the center of the garden and then on their knees, the two act out the imaginary history of their love affair once Algy learns she has invented and meticulously documented the entire courtship in her diary. ”As Cecily, Parry captures the creative and invigorating determination of her youthful character, who must create her own secrets in an attempt to satisfy her romantic expectations. “What an impetuous boy he is!” she says of Algy. “I like his hair so much. I must enter his proposal in my diary.” ”The interactions between Cecily and Gwendolyn Fairfax, the object of Jack’s affection, are flat and over rehearsed. As Gwendolyn, Bianca Amato is a little hard to warm up to, though when she shares her impression of Cecily with the audience (“Detestable girl! But I require tea!”), we understand that she already sounds like her mother, Lady Bracknell (Lynn Redgrave). ”The audience was closely watching Redgrave’s portrayal of the oppressive grand dame whom she has said she always felt an urge to play. As an upper-class Victorian mother obsessed with her daughter’s material worth and potential future inheritance, Redgrave delivers her character’s ridiculous societal beliefs and expectations with great energy. ”Her performance is in high gear in the inquisition scene with Jack when she ultimately advises him “to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over.” But when she becomes defensive and storms out of Algernon’s flat, her hand gestures and behavior seem a bit overdone. ”Not to be forgotten are Miss Prism (Miriam Margolyes) and Reverend Canon Chasuble (Terence Rigby), who are humorously oblivious to others in pursuing their own love affair. As Cecily’s seemingly strict but easily manipulated tutor, Margolyes captures the scholarly look, mannerisms and quirky personality of Miss Prism, who is a woman of many faces. She performs with great ease and naturally draws a lot of laughter. ”The same goes for Rigby, who is the awkward but proud and gentlemanly Chasuble, from the moment he emerges from the garden path. He and Margolyes create a perfect chemistry with their characters. ”The pastel-toned garden room set is luscious, with flowers practically lighting the room and speaking to the vibrancy of country life. It’s nice to see the women dressed in pale yellow and lavender to complement this decorative setting. Lady Bracknell’s lavish costumes certainly match her egocentrism. (Production design by Kevin Rigdon and Trish Rigdon.) ”However, though some of the actors may look and sound the part, they don’t seem human underneath it all, especially in the first act. Fortunately, they warm up as the show progresses. ”The opening-night audience seemed to laugh no matter what, even before some the delivery of some of the lines had been . Theirs was the most emotional response of the evening. ”The show runs through March 5 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 Grand Ave. Performances are 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Contact: (213) 628-2772.

Last month Paul Revere eighth grade science teacher Robert Aochi assigned his students a unique project: design the strongest, lightest model bridge possible using only quarter-inch balsa wood, glue and creativity. Their bridges were then tested in a structural stress machine used by many engineering schools. Aochi wanted his students to actually be able to see the physics concept of force in action. By applying weight to their finished bridges, the students could see the importance and practicality of engineering as related to construction. The bridges were scored in two ways: the amount of weight a structure held and the ratio of weight-bearing to bridge mass. The highest scoring bridge held 147 pounds and weighed in at 92.1 grams. It was built by Camille Wada, Nick Sinclair, Laura Johnson and Ryan Legaspi. In second place at a weight of 119 pounds and mass of 51.7 grams was the bridge designed by Elizabeth Silvers, Shelby Pascoe and Kimberly Cronin. Richie Meade-Miller, Renee Park, Daniel Makabeh and Tony Adlcedo built and designed the top-scoring bridges for weight-bearing to bridge mass with a score of 1,117.98. Their bridge weighed 46.7 grams and held 115 pounds. In second place with 1,108 was Adam Levin, Kevin Schilling, Kene Izuchukwu, Jason Rahimian and Daniel Melgerai’their bridge weighed 46.3 grams and held 113 pounds. The bridge-building project also accomplished Aochi’s other objectives, including promoting group cooperation, long-term organizational skills, problem-solving and stressing the importance of science/technology in today’s society. “Some kids are good at textbook learning and others are good at design and craftsmanship,” Aochi said. “The bridge project works towards everyone’s strengths.” Students in Aochi’s class was allowed to choose their own group. The groups were required to get together over the three-week winter vacation to research, design and build a model bridge. In addition to the constructed bridge, they had to turn in a scaled plan of the dimensions of the bridge and a written report on a three-sided display board. The written report had to include the history of bridges, structural types and what forces are involved. The only materials allowed on the finished project were balsa wood and glue’no pins or gussets (brackets strengthening an angle of a structure) were allowed. “They’d weigh too much anyway,” Cronin said. The maximum weight for the finished bridge was 95 grams. The students were required to work within a maximum length of 40 cm., width of 10 cm. and height of 21 cm. The minimum span was 25 cm. and the minimum clearance was 10 cm. The bridges constructed with those dimensions could fit into a large shoe box. The rules for the bridge also included specific rules for joint assembly, and all the angles supporting the span had to be larger than 30 degrees. “I can’t believe how much the bridge supported,” said Martha Meade, mom of eighth grader Richie. “When you think about how they put it together with balsa wood, it’s amazing! It was a great project.” “Some groups were really motivated; They liked building and testing their ideas,” Aochi said. “Other groups focused on each team member’s strengths, whether it was research, project design or model-building. If we had had more time, we would have let each team try to redesign it and improve on their bridge once they had seen the bridge’s weak spot.” He admitted he’s often as surprised as the students with the result of the stress test. “Sometimes you can tell students put a lot of work into the design and it only holds 25 pounds,” he said. “The same students see another group with a bridge that looks like it’s been hastily put together and it holds a lot more.” Aochi graduated from USC with a B.A. in biology and has taught at Revere for 24 years. He enjoys the enthusiasm of eighth graders as he introduces different concepts. “We have a lot of fun discussing questions such as ‘If the earth is moving and you’re moving, are you really moving?'” Aochi said, explaining, “It’s all relative; it depends on your reference point.” Eighth graders at Revere study physics, chemistry and astronomy. Aochi’s students have already designed wind cars, roller coasters and bridges. In the near future, they’ll have ice cream lab in chemistry, where they’ll learn heat exchange. “For a lot of kids this is their first introduction to chemistry and physics concepts,” Aochi said. “By doing projects it becomes more real for them.”

Theater Review

Life is funny and sad, often at the same time. Playwright Neil Simon writes comedies that illustrate this’plays structured around painful situations that unfold in humorous ways. The absurdity of these scenarios makes them feel strangely close to real life. In the Santa Monica Theatre Guild’s production of Simon’s “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” the audience is trapped in a modern (1970) New York City apartment with residents Mel and Edna Edison, a middle-aged couple struggling with life in the urban jungle. Leave it to Simon (“The Odd Couple” and “Lost in Yonkers”) to drag you down into the dumps of middle-aged existence and then make you laugh about it. But it is also the stunned silences and exposed vulnerability of the characters in this dark comedy that are funny. Creative direction by Lewis Hauser incorporates these “quiet” moments into the entertaining production, which runs through February 18 at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica. Hauser previously directed Simon’s “Rumors” and “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” at the Morgan-Wixson, and for the latter production he won the 2004 Geoffrey Award for Best Director. In “Prisoner of Second Avenue,” the city that never sleeps keeps the Edisons awake. Rather, Mel can’t sleep and he keeps Edna up with him. He’s disgusted with the summer heat, the impatient moan of car horns and the pungent smell of days-old garbage that find him 14 floors up in the Upper East Side apartment. He’s a prisoner in his own home’recently unemployed and on the verge of a mental breakdown at the beginning of the play. “I’m unraveling. I’m losing touch,” he says in a Willy Loman moment. Robbed of his job’his identity’Mel explodes when he learns his apartment was burglarized when Edna went shopping “for five minutes.” With no Scotch or Valium to calm his temper, he tells her, “I don’t need an analyst. I need ‘Lost and Found’.” Max Cohen’s portrayal of the complicated character is one of the best things about the play. He makes the transitions between Mel’s fast-changing moods with ease’pacing with anxiety and spouting angry complaints, then crying like a baby after one of his rages. As the paper-thin walls of the Edisons’ apartment begin to close in on Mel, he makes his devoted wife bang on the wall in response to neighbors’ complaints. In the role of Edna, Rene’ Travelli crafts the perfect whiny but loving housewife who wants only to please her husband and keep a nice home. Cohen and Travelli alone anchor the entire first act of the play, delivering Simon’s witty jokes with a naturalness and establishing their characters’ interdependence. They make it interesting to watch Mel and Edna process their misfortune amidst the chaos. For example, Edna wonders aloud what she would have done if she’d walked into their apartment while the burglars were still there. In this scene, Travelli sits on the couch, clutching a pillow, and asks again “What would I have done?” After a brief pause, Cohen delivers the answer’humorous, of course. The second act is a little darker, as Mel exhibits clear signs of cabin fever and speaks volumes with his snarled smile. It doesn’t help that Edna’s found a job and, with it, the energy to support them in her new role as breadwinner. When Cohen bounces a ball against the wall, we almost expect him to recite “No work and all play makes Jack a dull boy.” Instead, he clues his wife in on the “plot” against them. What plot? she asks. “The plot to undermine the working classes in this country.” (The “plot” could be a double-entendre, since Simon’s plays are known to be driven more by humorous lines and well-developed characters than plot.) With the city falling apart around the Edisons’increasing crime and strikes affecting practically all businesses’the likely solution is to find a way out. But it’s a Catch 22’they feed off of the chaos of city life, and is there really any place better to live than New York City anyway? By the time Mel’s siblings attempt to come to the rescue (in act two), the audience is ready for some new blood. Of course, they’re a lot like Mel’anxious and oversensitive’and they treat their brother like a patient. Unlike Mel and Edna, the siblings don’t have much soul. They’re well-meaning and want to do “the right thing” but they can’t think outside the box, and instead spend most of the time grappling with how much money to contribute to Mel’s doctor bills. The humorous way in which they try to deal with his breakdown is all part of Simon’s ability to capture the absurdity of the situation. The entire play is set in the Edisons’ living room, which is stylishly designed with ’60/’70’s-style furniture all arranged just so against a light mustard yellow and olive green color scheme (set design by Michael McGee). Flashy blue and magenta pillows, as well as detailed hanging lamps and two walls cut with hollow circular designs, also speak to the times. “The Prisoner of Second Avenue” opened on Broadway in 1971 with Peter Falk and Lee Grant and was made into a movie starring Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft in 1975. The Santa Monica Theatre Guild production, produced by Marcia Pryor, continues through February 18 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 for general admission; $15 for seniors and students, with group discounts available. Contact: 828-7519.

Sara Taft received a new liver five years ago, and it could have been a third eye or an open heart for the transformation that occurred. Truly the palpable expression of a new life, the liver transplant opened Taft to exploration of her new world, within. Facing what certainly would have been death without the transplant, followed by the pain and fear that the organ would be rejected, Taft says that she was held, supported and surrounded with the love of a corps of women: women with whom she had participated in workshops on dream analysis, the history of female wisdom, and the divine feminine within early Christianity. Much like an early Christian group, these women kept up a steady dialogue with Taft, albeit through e-mail and telephone calls. Taft lives in her Castellammare house where the view of the ocean and the special light from the west seems to nourish her contemplative side. She grew up at a time, in the 1950s, when girls were expected to mind their parents, then when they married, follow their husbands and raise the children. A generous spirit, Taft is close to her kids and, with the numerous photographs tucked here and there, is an attentive grandmother. Her manner is open, and she has learned to communicate clearly and truthfully as her own self has emerged. “I used to hold back my feelings, not saying what I felt,” she says. “But I am sure that those omissions eat at your body and cause all sorts of problems. Now I’m more truthful, I don’t want to do to this liver what I did to the other.” Whether the source of her new energy is the young man whose liver lives on in her, or her own transformation, Taft has been inspired by female role models, especially Mary Magdalene, whom she found to be a woman of courage and wisdom. Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code” introduced us to the ancient but little known mysteries surrounding the Biblical figure of Magdalene, who, unlike the spiritualized Virgin Mother of Christ, is a more complex figure integrating sexuality and spirituality. The Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all make reference to her as one of the followers of Jesus. She is explicitly mentioned as one of the women present at Christ’s crucifixion, a brave move, as most of the male disciples had fled the scene in fear. She was the first to see the risen Christ, and to carry Christ’s message to the others. However, she is mostly remembered as the “penitent whore,” thanks to Pope Gregory I, who in the 6th century confused her with an unnamed woman, described by Luke as “a sinner,” who washed Jesus’ feet. The scene is shortly followed by a passage in which Mary Magdalene is first introduced by name. Gregory interpreted the sins of the unnamed woman as prostitution, and claimed that she was the same person as Mary Magdalene. As a result of Pope Gregory’s characterization, “Not only was the feminine again made to carry the ‘sin’ of the world, which it has done since the temptation of Eve, but sexuality and the body were labeled as bad,” writes Cynthia Avens in “Mary as Virgin and Whore: Restoring Wholeness to the Image of the Feminine in Christianity.” “This widespread belief has wounded humankind with its guilt-laden judgment and had the effect of splitting the body and soul from the spirit. What is natural in human nature was cast into shadow.” Despite the fact that the church renounced Pope Gregory’s statement in 1969 and admitted it had made a mistake, most people still associate Mary Magdalene with being a prostitute. Convinced that the world is in need of the love and compassion of the feminine’the voice that has been excised from power in the religious and the secular’Taft began to act with new energy and new resolve to embrace and honor the complete feminine, both body and soul. In 2002, she went on a pilgrimage to Southern France to follow the route of Mary Magdalene, who after the death of Christ is said to have traveled to Egypt and eventually to have set sail for the shores of Southern France. Mary continued actively spreading the teachings of Jesus, and her presence and influence was recorded in paintings and sculpture throughout the area. While Taft kept a diary of her journey, filling it with her own observations, passages from the Gospel of Philip and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and her own drawings, she had not intended to create a series of paintings herself. “But, she called me,” Taft recalls. “It was not my original intention [to do these paintings], but I wanted to feel her and become acquainted with her personally. Sometimes I would weep before I painted. “Magdalene’s influence was considerable,” Taft continues. “John called her the founder of Christianity, as she was the first to bear witness to the Resurrection’the foundation of Christianity. The disciples didn’t believe her when she told them that ‘I have seen the Lord.’ How could He share this information with a woman? Peter said. Consistent with the Jewish tradition of patriarch, the hierarchy didn’t want to share the power.” The spiritual intimacy between Mary Magdalene and Jesus can be easily documented, according to Taft. “The early Christians believed Jesus was human, which opens the possibility he may have been married and maybe had a family,” Taft says. “But the important thing is that Mary Magdalene was a pretty developed woman. She was close to Jesus’ mother and sister and was mentioned throughout the gospels. She was the apostle of the apostles, according to Greek Orthodoxy.” Taft hopes that her paintings, based on classical references, will expand the knowledge of Mary Magdalene’s widespread contribution to the founding of the Christian religion. An exhibition of paintings of Mary Magdalene and narrative text by Sara Taft will be on display through February 27 in the Lobby Hallway at Agape International Spiritual Center, 5700 Buckingham Parkway, Culver City, CA 90230.