I’m not happy about this one. IFCC is our neighborhood community meeting place-art gallery-theater space-children’s theater space and much more. They do great work and need our support.

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Renee Mitchell, artist-at-large, has a new show going up this weekend, “Tangoing with Tornadoes.” The performance includes music, poetry, singing and interpretative dance. Choreographed by Judith Rizzio and directed by Barbara Kite, the show stars Mitchell, Sharon Martini, Nasir Najieb and Raheve Gray. Performances will be 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday, plus 3 p.m. Sunday matinee, January 18-27th, 2008.

The show, Mitchell says, “speaks to the power of our words” and is about domestic violence, “a heavy subject to be sure, but it’s presented in a creative way that entertains, informs and, at times, inspires you to laugh out loud.”

The show is sponsored by Self Enhancement Inc., Multnomah County, and NappyRoots Press. Financial support was also given by the Healing Roots Center, the African American Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations and community leaders. Shows will be held at the Center for Self Enhancement Inc., 3920 N. Kerby Ave., Portland, Ore.

Admission is free; please call to RSVP to guarantee seats: 503-249-1721, Ext. 259 or e-mail christyh at selfenhancement dot org

For more information, check Ms. Mitchell’s website.

Did you know it’s our anniversary next week? Nine years of happily married life!

My sister babysat for the kids last night — we went to clarklewis for dinner, it was a little fancy, but we sat at the bar to compensate. More on that later… The big news of the night was we made it to the theater — the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, right in the neighborhood. We saw Kwik Jones’s new play, “The Code.” It was fantastic. (He’s a Jefferson high graduate — say yes to local artists.)

For those of you in Portland, the final show is 3 p.m. today (Sunday, Aug. 26th). If you can, go; if you can’t, try to catch this show when it plays again, or get on the mailing list to find out about the company’s other shows. It was tremendous, moving, and extremely well-acted.

Here’s a synopsis of the show. You can read a Trib story about IFCC and Studio 20 here. And you better have IFCC’s address, so you can get on their mailing list.

Mr. Jones was there last night, and on our way out I wanted to stop and say something, but what is protocol, people? I always feel a little starstruck around playwrights and actors. Do you stop and say, “Great show, I loved it”? or what? If you don’t say something, will they think you didn’t like it? Live theater can be an emotional experience — sometimes it takes me a bit to come back to reality after seeing a really good show, like this one. The actors, directors and playwrights know this, right?

Please advise.