It’s a well-worn genre, but Al Martinez brings to the subject of his dearly departed dog a fresh meditation that is by turns funny, sad and poetic. “Barkley: A Dog’s Journey” (Angel City Press) is based on columns Martinez wrote about his beloved English springer spaniel and the final road trip Martinez and his wife, Cinelli, took with him through the small towns of California and Oregon before he died. The Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist and author will read and sign copies of his new book at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore Ave., at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Martinez, whose columns in the Los Angeles Times attract legions of devoted fans, received more response to his pieces about Barkley than any other work. “We are a nation of dog lovers,” Martinez explains. “It’s not any more complicated than that.” The author, well known for bringing wit and wisdom to a wide range of topics, says he didn’t set out to write a “dog” book: rather he saw the journey more as a rumination on life. However, Barkley quickly became the heart of the story. The dog is colorfully brought back to life in all his faithful, sensitive and naughty ways, from eating paper out of the fax machine to exploring the back roads of California on his final journey, including his first romp in snow, with all the doggy enthusiasm he could muster. “It’s a book of humor, philosophy, companionship and, in the end, sadness,” the author notes. Because someone you get to know dies, Martinez says, he intentionally held back a bit in his prose. “I didn’t want to pour emotion over it. I let the story tell itself.” One of the ways he accomplishes this it to set the book off in a fairy tale-like way, using the “once upon a time” to open and close the book, with a wistful nod to the transitory nature of all things. “I wanted to use time as an element,” says Martinez, who also used the device to heighten the magical nature of his dog. The changing landscape of the West is another current in the book, with Martinez savoring the slow pace of isolated villages and engaging the reader with tidbits of incredible lore. He tells of the ghostly presence of an exploding whale in the tiny town of Florence on the Oregon coast. In the 1970s, an eight-ton gray whale beached itself and died. Authorities decided to blow up the carcass with dynamite, imagining it would just disappear. “Old timers who knew it was true often preferred not to talk about it at all. They wanted Florence to be known as something other than a town soaked in stinking whale guts and blubber,” writes Martinez, foreshadowing the horrific results. In a recollection of a bittersweet incident that happened while he was serving in the Marines in Korea, Martinez powerfully evokes the incredible bonds forged with man’s best friend. Another member of the regiment, Fred, a guy Martinez describes as a sad loner type, was hypnotized with the suggestion that he was being handed a dog. “When the corpsman brought him out of it, Fred awoke cuddling the invisible dog, talking to it with a gentleness he had never revealed. At first it was a big laugh, but when someone tried to take the dog from him, Fred sent him sprawling with a punch to the face.” While best known as a columnist, Martinez is also the author of screenplays and television scripts as well as a variety of nonfiction books. “The essay is a wonderful format,” he says of the style he’s called upon to deliver twice weekly. “But writing a book gives me a certain amount of relief from the constraints and limitations of a column. I can elaborate and look at things from different points of view.”

Nurseryman Chris Meyer wants his audience to see salvias the way hummingbirds do’up close and personal’and so he will present a combination of video and photos to the Garden Club members and friends at the meeting on Monday, June 5, 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Palisades Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. “Salvias, commonly known as sages, have been more available and popular ever since Betsy Clebsch wrote ‘A Book of Salvias’ several years ago,” says Meyer, who has 90 different types of salvia on his property in the foothills of Sherman Oaks. “That book was very well received because it was the first one to focus on the California point of view. The California Mediterranean climate is vastly different from what gardening books usually deal with, which is England and New England, both of which have summer rains.” Part of the attraction of salvias is their diversity. The plants can fit into any garden scheme, from shade to full sun, and from rock garden and mountainside to borders. They can be deciduous, or evergreen; annual, perennial or biennial. Heights vary from ground-hugging to six feet tall. Leaves can be tiny and thyme-like to more than a foot long. “I used to think that there were the red salvias and the blue salvias, but then we went down to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and learned otherwise. “We used to live in a townhouse, festooned with hummingbird feeders,” Meyer says. “So when when we moved, we said, ‘Let’s put enough nectar bearing plants in so we don’t have to put feeders out ever again.'” Meyer discovered that there are roughly 1,000 salvias, and at his most zealous period he had 150 salvias in his garden: those that love the very hot western exposure and others that grow under trees, and still others that grow next to the neighbors who water daily. With his interest in a garden that attracts wildlife (a topic he presented last year for garden club members), he has planted salvias that bloom at different times throughout the year so he has hummingbirds year round. His garden is also a haven for butterflies, such as the pale and western swallowtails, morning clocks, and the monarchs, which feast on “a couple of hundred milkweed.” Although Meyer doesn’t sell his plants, he does have a greenhouse for propagation. Many of the plants in his garden started from seed and cuttings that he has brought home, even “legally” from England. In an ironic twist, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden dedicated a salvia named after Betsy Clebsch, which she says she has never been able to grow. The plant produces flowers varying widely in color, from bluish lavender to white or even bi-colored’all on the same plant. It favors dry desert climates in Southern California. In her coast range mountain garden, Clebsch tried three times, but she’s not giving up.

Theater Review

Near the beginning of the first act, the Baker (Michael Jones) says, “This is ridiculous,” and I couldn’t help agreeing, although we had different objections in mind. He was talking about his ineptness in trying to secure four objects for the witch to break a spell in Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” currently playing at Palisades Charter High School, and I was thinking about the lack of an adequate space to showcase a musical. This is Pacific Palisades, not some Podunk town in the middle of the boondocks. We live in the middle of “Hollywood,” the show business capital of the world, and we don’t have a decent auditorium. For those of you who haven’t been to a musical at the high school, there is no theater. There is a small auditorium where the orchestra sits to one side of the stage. The audience sits on folding chairs. The drama department tries to make the best of it by renting cushions ($3) or selling them ($10). The shame is that the students are so talented, but they have no space that adequately helps showcase their talents. Some of the students in the orchestra, under the direction of Terry Henderson, play with the Junior Philharmonic. Although they are still in high school, the music rivals the orchestra pits on Broadway. In particular, the musicians Friday night played so smoothly and in such perfect tune, I often forgot it was live and not a recording. The voices, oh the voices: if music is indeed the speech of angels, then they were hovering in the Palisades on Friday night. Once again, though, how do you take such talented performers (some of the seniors are going to Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, Tufts and Barnard College at Columbia University) and ask them to perform in a space that rivals my garage for comfort? It’s impossible to see the actors and much of the set. In this particular instance, it was a shame not to be able to see more of the stage because set director India Lawrence’s attractive design maximized the space available. The only character easily viewed was Rapunzel (Christie Pryor) and that was because she was located in a window above the stage. Her lovely voice left an ethereal quality over the show. The costumes were several notches above what you expect at a high school performance, as a matter of fact, they would have been perfect choices for the Broadway show. Sasha Pasternak and Olivia Taylor, who were in charge, are to be commended for the excellence. “Into the Woods” is an interesting musical because it doesn’t follow the classical story line of boy meets girl, problems arise, problems are solved and everyone lives happily after . . .but then it’s one of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals, which are usually dark. The musical centers on fairy-tale characters Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and a Baker and his wife. The Baker and his wife want a child, but have been cursed by a witch (Annie Tippe). In order to lift the curse, they need a slipper as pure as gold, cow as white as milk, cape as red as blood and hair as yellow as corn. They set into the woods to procure those items. At the same time, Little Red Riding Hood is going to granny’s house, Jack is going to sell a cow and Cinderella is trying to find a way to attend the ball. At the end of Act One, everyone has found happiness, or so they think, and that’s where Act Two starts. As the Baker’s wife (Gilli Messer) sings, “There are rights and wrongs and in-betweens and everyone tells lies.” Sondheim’s musicals always challenge the audience to think and question their own ethics, even as they’re being entertained. As morals are challenged, audience members are left with their own discomfort’think back to Sondheim’s other shows “Company,” “Follies” and “Sweeney Todd,” and his more well-known songs, “I’m Still Here,” “Send in the Clowns” and “The Ladies Who Lunch.” Director Monica Iannessa said she chose the piece to “accommodate the plethora of great female actresses and singers.” “Into the Woods” is a great way to showcase a talented ensemble with numerous unforgettable roles. The musical opened on Broadway in November 1987 and ran for 764 performances at the Martin Beck Theater. It won three Tonys: best score Stephen Sondheim, best book James Lapine and best actress in a musical Joanna Gleason. I saw Gleason play the Baker’s wife and Bernadette Peters in the role of the witch. Vocally Messer and Tippe measure up. Messer, in particular, is always great fun to watch, especially after her rendezvous with Cinderella’s Prince (Eric Rosenstein), who proclaims, “I was raised to be charming, not sincere.” The entire play has scenes that let individual performers shine, which was exactly the director’s intention. Little Red Riding Hood (Lauren Hunziker) was a joy to watch’her maturity and lovely voice made her a stand-out. The duet with the wolf (Charles Henshaw) was pure fun. Milky White (Rosie Krieger), the cow, has no lines with the exception of an occasional “moo” and still manages to steal several scenes with her presence. This is not an easy thing to do, because she’s working with some very talented performers including Jack (Paul Miller). I loved the Princes’ duet as Rapunzel’s Prince (Jeremy Siegel) and Cinderella’s Prince (Rosenstein) performed “Agony.” Although Jones is only a freshman, he takes one of the leading roles (the Baker) and handles it with aplomb. His voice is outstanding and has matured since last year when he had the lead in Paul Revere’s musical. It comes as no surprise that he sang in the LAUSD Honor Choir last year as a bass. As Cinderella, Sara Nygard was lovely and her voice radiant. I challenge the town to go see the exceptional talent. The downside of this musical is the lack of a reasonable space to showcase it. Many people who live in Pacific Palisades went to public high schools and have become exceptionally wealthy through show business. If those individuals are looking for a place to be philanthropic, a new theatre/music center would be the place to start. The shows runs June 1, 2 and 3 at 7 p.m. in Mercer Hall. General admission $10. Seats are on a first-come first-served basis.

Hustling is hard for playwrights, even for those who have extensive theater credits and awards. Imagine, then, how the Botanicum Seedlings play-development series can assist a writer in his most important wish’to bring the work to life? Now in its fourth season, Seedlings presents staged readings of three new plays on Sundays at 11 a.m., beginning June 4 in the Theatricum Botanicum’s home in Topanga Canyon. “The series is about serving the playwrights,” says Jennie Webb, currently playwright-in-residence at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, who created and oversees the Seedlings program. With the collapse of the A.S.K. Theater projects in 2003, which provided an avenue for playwrights to have their work performed, the Theatricum, which is known for its summer Shakespeare repertoire, decided to expand its reach by encouraging new work. Artistic Director Ellen Geer feels the program was a natural evolution for the Theatricum, which began as a place where artists could speak out in times of turmoil. Her father, Will Geer, built the Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga during the 1950s, when he was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Webb solicits new plays from all over the country and usually receives between 75 and 100 submissions a year. Israel Baran, a writer and literary critic, reads every play first and gives notes. The plays are then read by two to three people, actors and writers who serve on the reading committee. The Theatricum encourages provocative, political and socially relevant material, and prefers plays which are theatrical and character-driven. Webb says that unlike a lot of companies that are looking for new plays to produce in their own theaters, the Seedlings program is not. “We’re here to help the playwright get to the next level, primarily. In addition, the Theatricum could develop relationships with other theaters, which might be interested in producing the Seedlings play, and finally, the Seedlings program expands the Theatricum Botanicum actors’ repertory. “We give the playwright two rehearsals, a director and a good cast,” Webb continues. She really provides the expert support and what she hopes will be the best combination of director and cast that will communicate what the writer feels is the most important focus. “I talk to the playwrights, and say ‘Tell me about the characters, what are your goals? Is it character-driven?’ Then I go to Ellen and we rack our brains to come up with whom we think would be the best actors to cast.” Webb cites the June 4th play, “Such Moments” by Drew Katzman, that tells the tale of two very complicated women who become an inextricable part of each other’s lives. Both Geer and Webb thought immediately of resident actors Susan Angelo and Melora Marshall in the title roles. Both women have been reigning leading ladies together at the Theatricum since they were ingenues. Angelo currently heads the Academy of the Classics, while working as an actress at repertory companies across the country. The reading is also directed by Ann-Giselle Spiegler, an award-winning director and co-founder of Lit Theater. In her other job as a drama critic, most recently for Backstage West and on air for KCRW-FM, Webb sees a lot of theater and has an extensive recollection of actors and performances. This gives her resources from which to select a cast and directors for Seedlings. As with many of the members of the Will Geer “family,” Webb has worked in many capacities. A graduate of USC’s School of Drama, she started her career as an actress and comedienne. She performed sketch and improvisational comedy in night clubs and theater, and in 1987 co-founded The Rough Theater, a nonprofit theater company which actively produced new works through the mid-1990s. She describes herself as a person who just “kind of falls into things,” and that’s what led her to the Theatricum. “Louis Fantasia, a good friend, and an internationally respected Shakespeare/acting teacher, recommended me for the job at the Theatricum heading the adult acting programs with Susan Angelo in 1989. So I got involved, I taught classes (intensive Shakespeare, classical training, kids’ play writing) and started the public relations for the company.” In 2002, Ellen said to Webb, appreciating her dedication and talent, “How can we help you? The Theatricum commissioned a play that turned out to be Webb’s one-act “Tilting,” which received a staged reading to end the 2001 Summer Repertory Season. Webb said, “How can we help other playwrights?” And that was the “seed” for Seedlings. This summer’s readings include Katzman’s “Such Moments,” which received a reading at Theatre West last weekend. A producer, director and actor, he most recently performed the 40th anniversary revival of “Spoon River Anthology” for Theatre West. “The Resurrection of Dismas and Gestas” will debut on Sunday, June 11. The play, by award-winning New York-based fiction writer Jacob Appel, is a dark comedy about ideas which takes a sharply stylized look at life, death, date, sexuality and property rights. Appel has received awards including the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award for the Short Story, and has been shortlisted for the O. Henry Award. Brian Patrick Mulligan, who most recently staged “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” at Celtic Arts, will direct. The readings conclude on June 19 with Devin Wallace’s “The Washing Place,” directed by Karen Reed, who’s also an actress at the Company Rep. A historical play set in 12th-century France, the play unveils the colorful world of the troubadours. Based in Los Angeles, Wallace has written and directed several historical works for NPR Playhouse, including “The Glass Harmonica” and “Bitter Lake,” which later adapted into an award-winning screenplay. Several of the plays that have been Seedlings in years past have gone on to fully staged productions. Diane Lefer’s play “Harvest” was produced at the Playwright’s Arena, and James McLindon’s play “The Garden of Dromore” was a finalist in the Grove Theater’s New Plays Initiative. Webb likes the direction that Seedlings is taking the Theatricum, which, she says, has historically stood apart from the Los Angeles theater scene. “I think that this independent ‘we have to do this ourselves’ mentality may be a leftover from the blacklisting days. But my main goal is advocacy. I want us to develop relations with other small theaters. There are more theaters in Los Angeles than in New York. We’re starting to reach out and see the Theatricum go into another arena.” Botanicum Seedlings are free to the public. The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd. For information, call 455-3723 or visit www.theatricum.com.