Museum honors life of former resident

By PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 30, 2008 9:18 AM PDT ∞

The Valley Center History Museum will open a new exhibition on Friday dedicated to one of its most famous residents. Steve Reeves, best known as the star of the 1959 film "Hercules," lived in Valley Center for 34 years until his death in 2000.

Reeves was a famous body-builder in the 1940s, winning virtually ever major world title, including Mr. America (1947), Mr. World (1948) and Mr. Universe (1950). As an actor, he starred in 18 movies, and from 1959-1961, he was Hollywood's No. 1 box-office star (ahead of Doris Day and John Wayne). He was most famous for appearing in a string of so-called "sword and sandal" epics, including "The Giant of Marathon," "Goliath and the Barbarians" and "The Last Days of Pompeii." In his private life, Reeves lived in Valley Center and was an active horse rancher until his death at age 74 eight years ago.

The exhibit has photos from every stage of Reeves' career and includes some of his films. The museum, at 29200 Cole Grade Road, is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Call (760) 749-2993 or visit valleycenterhistory.org.

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Six Carlsbad High School students will leave for Europe Saturday for a filming expedition to document their experiences learning about the Holocaust. This trip ---- to the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial site in Krakow, Poland, and the Dachau concentration camp site in Munich, Germany ---- is the third expedition involving a total of 16 students who've been working on a Holocaust-themed television documentary produced by the school's CHSTV station.

The film will include information about the Holocaust and its impact on the students as they filmed and learned about the event over the past few months. When complete, the documentary will be used as school curriculum for eighth- to 11th-grade teachers and will be shared with other California and national schools.

"We want to bring history alive for teens," said Doug Green, adviser for CHSTV and creator of the documentary concept. "Presentation of the facts by peers is a powerful teaching tool. The students have been amazing in their grasp of the subject matter and their sensitivity to the circumstances of the Holocaust."

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To prepare for its 2008/09 exhibition season, which begins in mid-September, the Lux Art Institute in Encinitas is seeking volunteer docents to join its liaison program.

When the institute --- a combination indoor/outdoor gallery and artist-in-residence studio ---- opened last year, it signed up an initial corps of 11 liaisons, whose work included touring visitors through the studio and around the Lux grounds and teaching visitors about visiting artists and Lux's history and mission.

With the new season beginning in the fall, Lux hopes to sign up new volunteers now so they can learn about Lux as well as the artists who will be visiting the institute this fall and next spring. One of the first liaisons to work at Lux after it opened, Kathleen Stiven of Cardiff, said she has found the experience rewarding and educational.

"Being a part of the beginning of Lux's history as a liaison has been very fun," Stiven said. "I can't believe how lucky we are to have Lux Art Institute in our neighborhood. We now have a real art destination in our area, and I love sharing it with visitors and students."

Liaisons will be expected to volunteer at least several hours a month at the Lux. Informational meetings will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesdays in September. Contact Lux education director Karen Leen at (760) 436-6611 or e-mail her at education@luxartinstitute.org. Lux Art Institute is at 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas.

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Fallbrook Players sold out its Aug. 21 dinner theater performance of "A Wedding to Die For" a month in advance, so the troupe has added a second performance on Aug. 28.

When the first "Wedding" date was announced in July, it sold out within three days, so the board decided to add another performance a week later, said Mary Fry, show producer. "A Wedding to Die For," presented once a month at the Fallbrook Golf Club's Hukilau Restaurant, is a murder-mystery comedy where the audience sees a murder take place and helps solve the crime during a multicourse dinner. Fallbrook Players also presents "Audition for Murder," a monthly murder-mystery dinner, at Dominick's Deli.

For information on either show, call (760) 728-0998 or visit www.fallbrookplayers.org.

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Bank of America customers get in free this weekend at three local museums: the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Museum, the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park and the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.

Anyone who presents a Bank of America ATM, check or credit card on Saturday or Sunday will get a free general admission ticket. The "Museums on Us" program offers free admission on the first weekend of each month in 2008 to a number of museums all over the country. For a list of participating museums, visit bankofamerica.com/museums.

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The Old Globe and San Diego Repertory Theatre are among 18 American theater companies that received grants to develop new plays for their 2008-09 seasons.

The Edgerton Foundational New American Play Awards, administered by the Theatre Communications Group, totaled $674,000 and ranged from $5,000 to $75,000. The grants are designed to give the theaters a longer rehearsal period for their new work, and the undisclosed amount of each grant is commensurate with each theater's production costs.

One grant went to San Diego Rep for its development of Karole Foreman and Andrew Chukerman's "Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea," which will open Nov. 23 at the Lyceum Theatre. The musical comedy is a soulful adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Princess and the Pea," reset in a fantastical Africa and featuring a 15-member, all-black cast.

Another grant went to the Globe's production of Itamar Moses' "Back Back Back," a play about the use of steroids in professional baseball, which will have its world premiere Sept. 18. Moses' play "The Four of Us," which had its West Coast premiere last year at the Globe and won a Best New Play award from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, was a 2007 Edgerton grant recipient.

Pam Kragen is the arts editor of the North County Times.