Centennial Theatre: The Magic of Strings. An exhibi- tion of marionettes by Marjorie Woods of Talking Hands Puppetry Theatre. To Sept. 30. Monday to Friday, noon to 4 p.m. Dundarave Cafe: Goddesses and Nature's Mists. Pain:ings in mixed media and 24K gold by Lynne Green. To Sept. 26. Ferry Building Gallery: est Vancouver Sketch Ciseb. 50th anniversary exhitidon. To Sept. 14. Beyond Words. The stone sculptures of Ian Rowles and new acrylics and oils from Barry Shelton. Opening reception Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. Artist’s dialogue Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. Artists in attendance Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. Gallery hours: noon to 8 p.m., closed Mondays. North Vancouver City Faall: Alice Shen. Landscapes, birds, flowers and mountains influenced by Chinese paint- ing techniques. ‘To Sept. 25. Presented by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council. Business hours. North Vancouver District Hdall Architecture’s for the Birds. Graham Eagle’s cre- ations range from watercolors and acrylics to bird houses, feeders, wine dispensers and wall sculprures. Betty Van Der NORTH Van's Paco de Leon sings with Elias var: jas ina production iypsy Soul at Caplan, College Theatre Sunday. Kroi. Watercolors evoking an emotional response. Both exhibits are presented by the North Vancouver Community Arts Council and run to Sept. 25. Business hours. Reception: Sept. 11, 6:30- 8:30 p.m. North Vancouver Museum and Archives: Fire! Firefighting through the ages. A major exhibit organized in conjunction with the West Vancouver Museum and Archives and the three North Shore Fire Departments. To Oct. 12. Weds. to Sun. noon to 5 p.m. Free. Information: 987-5618. Presentation House Gallery: Indian Princesses and Cowgirls: Stereotypes from the Frontier. To Oct. 12. Weds. to Sun. noon to 5 p.m., Thursdays to 9 p.m. Seymour Art Gallery: Nude Realism, The oils of W.V. See more page 2 TIED up in their work, Angry Actors are one of the picks of the Fringe. Pictured left to right: Jay Brazeau, Pam Johnson, Brian Linds, Kathryn Shaw, Thomas Hunt, Suzanne Ristic. Sex and fun sell at Fringe festival HEY, let’s put on a piay! ‘After all, it’s not that hard apart from memorizing those damn lines and if we write them ourselves it will come a lot easi- er. Then we can enter the Fringe Festival. It must be September already! The 13th annual Fringe, Vancouver's Theatre Festival is once again alive on the Drive, Commercial that is, as approximately 100 shows com te in the late summer sun for audiences September 14. . Thee | is a huge range of talent and ideas on display of which, fortunately, only some fall into the above “let's AS Bat on a pay” category. Actors are back with a collective cre- 1 L . we matin millerchip ‘ation entitled Famous Dead Stories We Just Made Up. Actually, thev are not famous, and probably _ not made up. A series of vignettes ranging, in tone from comic to tragic are extremely person- al and, without exception, totally accessible. T was occasionally left wanting more, but there isn’t one segment that doesn’t have some- thing to recommend it. Connective tissuc beyond the thematic is pro- vided by the effective staging device of elastic webbing that is woven, tied, stretched, cradled or skipped in the context of cach scene. Jay Brazeau, Suzanne Ristic, Pam Johnson (all fom North Vancouver), Thomas Hunt, Kathryn Shaw and Brian Linds are the pertorm- rs. Collectively they are wonderful, iridividually Shaw’s optimistically cecentric 15-year-old and Brazcau’s lonely sandman cradling terminally-ill babies have stayed with ine. Final performances tonight and tomorrow at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre but the show has been selected to hold over at Presentation House. In contrast, Hands Off My Handcream from Foghorn Productions, illustrates what can hap- pen when you link a series of unfunny sketches with a spurious device. Nothing. T appreciate the handcream rhat writer/direc- tor David Goodman sent along with his press kit, but not enough to recommend this dog's break- fast of stereotypical characters and ideas. The actors, Geremy Dingle and Cheryl McNamara, take credit for development so they share in the blame for failing to flesh out any of the characters. At one point Dingle describes a tube of hand- cream he has been accused of stealing as used, half-cmpty, dirty and greasy. Sort of how I felt as I left. Another show that fails because of the writing rather than the performances is Passien and the Pocket Watch from Penniless Theatre, which | am told is North Vancouver-based. The concept of the piece revolves around a group of high schoo! friends who are challenged to write about che passionate moments of their lives. I gleaned this trom the program not from the action. Directors Judi Price and Jeannie Western have all five cast members accompany their monologues with a sort of f bastardized. American Sign Language with the result that the stage often | like a spastic semaphore convention. If this isn’t distancing and unnerving enough, whoever js speaking is usually being upstaged by the rest of the cast as they engage in some group movement improv that purports to illustrate whatever is being said. The dumb shows accompanying the mono- logues that touch on the aT effects of breast cancer are rarely rising beyond the level of mnoronieall banal. I spent the first five minutes not knowing where to look and the rest of the play deciding “SORRY, the naked guy and his egg will not be appearing at this festivai.” Even the advertising for Louis and Dave pokes fun at the infamous Fringe pen- chant for putting naked chicks on play posters. that it didn’t really matter. And that’s too bad, because the material thar deals with breast cancer deserves a better fate. The cast is way too young and inexperienced to inhabit these 40- and 50-year-old characters but Catherine Rachey as janice shines in her re- creation of a ’70s pot There is such a mull ben berween this type of well- meaning Fringe production and the fully realized offerings from companies like England’s Four See move page 32 B iOain-JOpny Morn.-Sat ; Spm Sundays 1557 Marin West VANCOU 913-0610 {behind the new North Shore Credit Union) Baked Salmon with a Pear and. Chutney Grust 2x8 oz salmon fillets 6 oz fresb bread 2 pears 12 cup chopped leeks 1 cup Mango Peach Chatney 2 tsp. butter Melt butter in a pan. Add chopped leeks and saute until soft. Add finely diced peeled pears. Cuok gently for S minutes. Add Mango Peach Chutney and finely diced fresh bread. Mix well. Place satmon fillet skin down on a baking tray. Spread with crust and bake al 40U'°F for 15 10 20 minutes.