>> The call of the sea will not be denied.

New Bedford is a mermaid's promise of treasures.

>> BOWEN: I'm Jared Bowen, coming up on Open Studio, water made mesmerizing.

Then, there's a tempest brewing on Boston Common as Free Shakespeare returns.

>> It's such a perfect play for now.

I feel like, you know, as we emerge from this pandemic and this space of isolation, it really mirrors, in some ways, Prospero's isolation on the island.

>> BOWEN: Plus a transformative figure in the 1930s-era Transcendental Painting Group.

>> It's a lot of fun kind of decoding works.

And, and Jonson just kind of takes you out on this...

I don't know, when I look at them, it's like they just make my eyes feel fun.

>> BOWEN: And the allure of glass.

>> By bringing contemporary artists who are not glass artists to work in a new medium.

>> BOWEN: It's all now on Open Studio.

♪ ♪ First up, the art group DATMA is making a splash in New Bedford with another summer of public art programming.

This year's theme is water-- a fitting subject for a city whose identity is ingrained in the harbor it's built upon.

We recently visited the seaport city and were welcomed with poetry.

>> We the people of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Connected, blended, entwined.

We are said to have salt water coursing through our veins.

Salt water, our lifeblood.

>> BOWEN: In New Bedford, water has always been deeply tied to the coastal city's economy, culture, and identity.

>> We hold seashells to our ears and listen for the whispers of our ancestors.

>> BOWEN: To New Bedford poet laureate Patricia Gomes, a lifelong resident, water has always been a prompt.

And it's the inspiration for her new poem titled "Buoyancy."

>> Awakened by the cries of congregating gulls and the tart aroma of the sea at dawn, we are lulled to rest at night by the tinkling of wind chimes and the comforting bleat of distant foghorns.

New Bedford has always been home to painters and writers, always, going back to Melville.

It's, it's all right here.

So I think we draw more creativity from being around the water.

>> BOWEN: And it's water that is the subject of this year's citywide arts initiative from the Massachusetts Design, Art, and Technology Institute, or DATMA.

The organization is bringing a wave of new public art to New Bedford this summer, from the streets to the piers.

>> The call of the sea will not be denied.

New Bedford is a mermaid's promise of treasures for those who are brave enough, strong enough, adventurous enough to mend the nets and mine the waters.

(loud rumbling) >> BOWEN: Lindsay, what just happened?

What was that?

>> Uh, that's what we call a rainstorm here in New Bedford.

The artist is Zimoun.

He's from Bern, Switzerland, and he's a sound artist.

So he would argue that it's not necessarily about these objects, but the sound that is the art form.

>> BOWEN: Lindsay Mis is the executive director of DATMA, and this year combed the globe for artists to compose variations on a theme of water.

Here at the UMass Dartmouth art gallery, this installation replicates a thunderous rainstorm using cardboard boxes, mini motors, and cotton balls.

>> Very simple, but through the simplicity of the work, you're able to appreciate the nuances and subtleties of what these materials can offer.

And each object ends up having its own personality.

(rumbling continues) >> BOWEN: This is the third year of DATMA's summer arts programming focusing on natural elements such as wind and, in 2020, light.

This year highlights the maritime industries that have been a boon for the city since it was first settled in the 17th century.

>> New Bedford is a pretty old historic city, and wouldn't have been the melting pot that it was without being on a coast.

We've got ships that have been docked there for hundreds of years.

And so it was important for DATMA to pay homage to this aspect of being in a coastal community, and having this industry that's been tried and true through many generations.

>> BOWEN: As evidenced in the hulking workhorse boats that float cheek by jowl at the waterfront.

It's an industry as vibrant today as it was centuries ago, as DATMA highlights in a series of installations that can be viewed online or in person on the streets of New Bedford.

Like Sea Scallops: Sentinels of the Deep, which allows viewers to dive into scientific photography of the ocean's seafloor.

>> We were working with scientists who were doing research and involving technology and design to capture important research on the coast, but at the same time taking these elegant photos.

>> BOWEN: There is also Harvesters of the Deep, large-scale portraits that highlight the impact of women in the global fishing industry-- from the waterfront workers of New Bedford to the herring lassies of the U.K., to the haenyeo divers of Korea's Jeju Island.

>> We're trying to highlight the unsung heroes in this show.

You often see that rough and gruff fisherman, but what people don't realize is that women have made an impact in the fishing industry for hundreds of years.

>> BOWEN: So tell me about the women that we're seeing here.

>> So back in 2008, I started going around and documenting all the different people at their jobs.

>> BOWEN: One of those photographers is Phil Melo, who has photographed fishermen and women at every step of the job.

>> I just try to tell the story.

We have boats that come in from Point Judith, and there's girls on it that fish, and they offload the boats and everything else.

It's a whole organization of people, not just men, that do the jobs down here.

>> BOWEN: Just another facet of a pool of programming celebrating New Bedford's storied past, thriving present, and promising future.

(seagull squawks) >> We know, as sure as the sun rises in the east, we the people, having salt water coursing through our veins, will again rise to the surface as one-- connected, blended, entwined.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: After a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company is back in the park.

This year, its free production on Boston Common is The Tempest, starring John Douglas Thompson, fresh off his role in the hit HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown, alongside Kate Winslet.

>> They want a fresh set of eyes on this... >> No, no, I don't need some county (no audio) coming in on my case.

>> They're getting pressured, Mare.

>> Come on... >> And because they're getting pressured, I'm getting pressured.

>> BOWEN: Back on Boston Common, in The Tempest, Thompson stars as Prospero, a character emerging from years of isolation on an island.

And that's pretty relevant today as we emerge from our own solitude.

I recently spoke with Thompson and director Steve Maler.

Steve Maler, John Douglas Thompson, welcome back to the show, both of you.

John, hang in there just a moment.

I just want to get through some of the pandemic business with Steve, where I'm going to talk to you about the show and Kate Winslet.

But first, Steve, you will probably be one of the first major productions, if not the first major production, to open in Boston after the pandemic.

What can you tell people about how you're doing it and how you're doing it safely?

>> Well, it's, it's a lot.

Obviously, for us at CSC, the safety of our artists, our artisans, and our audience is the primary concern that we have this summer.

We're going to tell a great story, but we're also going to do it safely.

We are doing a streamlined version of The Tempest.

I keep saying feature-length.

So think about the, you know, as you go to a movie theater, you sit down and you watch the movie from beginning to end without getting up-- that's we're going to try to strive for this year, so we don't have an intermission.

And we're also, again, very unique for us this year, going to ask our guests to pre-register for the free access to the show on the Boston Common this summer.

It's still free, of course, but we need to be able to know who's there on a night-by-night basis for contact tracing.

>> BOWEN: All right, before I bring John in here, what's your 20-second version of The Tempest as you see it?

Because you always bring a very distinct lens to your productions.

>> Well, you know, I think it's such a perfect play for now.

I feel like, you know, as we emerge from this pandemic and this space of isolation, it really mirrors, in some ways, Prospero's isolation on the island and his being cast out of his society.

So his brother deposed him.

And through Prospero's art and magic, he manages to bring his brother back to the island with him for a very deep process of atonement and forgiveness.

>> BOWEN: John, you are a man who has spent years in Shakespeare.

So tell us what your take on this piece is.

>> You know, I've always looked at Shakespeare as being a playwright of the moment, albeit he is no longer with us, and his plays are hundreds of years old, but they seem to be of the moment.

The play kind of mirrors that in what Prospero goes through.

I look at the whole idea of Prospero being on this island as Prospero being in some level of quarantine, and wanting to leave that quarantine, go back to the real world, and hopefully it's a better place.

Hopefully he's a better person.

Hopefully he's learned something about himself during this quarantine.

>> BOWEN: Well, that's interesting, these comparisons to now, because, Steve, I know this was planned a few years ago, and this was to be the big 25th-anniversary, and it still, of course, is the 25th-anniversary production, of course sidelined by the pandemic.

So how is it to have this play meet this moment, or did you have some insight about the pandemic that none of us know about?

>> No, we, we certainly thought it was a great piece to do for the 25th year of the company.

One of the core ideas of doing this play was doing it with John.

He is, I truly think, the best classical actor in our country right now, in addition to being a film and TV star.

Part of my hope for this summer's production is to rediscover my love for this art form and to rediscover, for our audiences to rediscover their love for this art form.

So what we're hoping to do is really tell this story in a very simple, theatrical, beautiful way with all the things that film and television can't do, which is live, living, breathing artists in front of an audience.

And that intersection of audience and actor, again, is what's most intriguing to me.

>> BOWEN: Well, John, on that theme of evolution, I think one commonality among all of the actors I've interviewed over the years is, is how, as they change in their life, how they age in their life, different circumstances-- becoming a parent, for instance-- changes how they approach material that had been familiar to them in a different way.

Do you think that you're a different actor on the other side of this pandemic?

>> Going through the pandemic made me understand myself in a different way and made me want to really get back to the core of what it is that I do, which is live theater.

And everything that's gone on during this pandemic, all the social justice reform that's come out of it and hopefully gets put back into our society, has really changed the kind of artist I am, as far as what's important to me and what is not important to me, and how I want to tell stories.

So, yeah, I'm very much a changed artist.

I feel blessed in the sense that I get to come back to the world with Shakespeare.

I mean, there could be no better gift than to come back into this new world that we've carved out for ourselves with this incredible play.

>> BOWEN: And Steve, you sit here as both the director of the play, but also the artistic director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.

We've seen all of American theater have to grapple with the second pandemic, the racial reckoning that has happened over the last year.

How do you look at that going forward?

>> It's the most important work for our companies going forward, all of our companies.

But for CSC, we've been deeply committed to equitable representation on our stages for, for, since 1996, when we started the company.

We still have a lot of work to do.

It's imperative that we change this.

It's imperative that we bring new audiences to the audience.

>> BOWEN: Well, John, is there something fundamental about what you want to see change in the theater, with so much conversation about people of color saying they don't feel necessarily welcomed into the theater?

You know, I'm talking about just going into the theater as an audience member, let alone being on or backstage.

>> I certainly want, and I've been all about this through my own career, is diversity on stage-- not just on the stage, but within a theater company, from the board on down.

And also, I'd like to see that in the audience.

And I think that's totally doable.

It's not as if I haven't seen that.

It's just that you don't see it enough.

And I've been trying to, through my own works with Shakespeare, my whole purpose was activism in the sense of saying, "I am a Black and brown body doing this work on a high level "so that other Black and brown bodies who were watching me, "whether in the audience or they saw it on television, can realize that they can do this work, as well."

So I definitely want to see the diversity, and not just racial diversity.

I want to see gender diversity.

I want to see LGBTQ diversity.

I want to see disability diversity, because I really feel-- and I've always felt this way-- that Shakespeare can handle all of that.

>> BOWEN: Well, I look forward to seeing all of that happen, but I cannot close this interview without asking you, John, you are in a huge hit show, Mare of Easttown, on HBO-- everybody is talking about it.

>> The Easttown Police Department received a call reporting a dead body in Creedham Creek.

>> We've decided to bring in a county detective to assist with the case.

>> BOWEN: What's it like to be in a big hit show?

>> You know, it's, it's-- it's really fascinating.

I did not know that the show would take as much hold, but then I saw the SNL farce called Murdur Durdur.

>> (in Philadelphia accent): Oh, no.

I know her.

It's Owen's durdur.

>> Durdur?

>> Did I sturrer?

(audience laughter) The durdur's been murdered.

>> They did a little spoof on Mare of Easttown.

And I said, "Oh, wow, we've hit... We, we've-- we've hit the zeitgeist," you know?

"It's a really important show."

>> BOWEN: Well, congratulations on that.

John Douglas Thompson, Steve Maler, we can't wait to be together on the Common.

Thanks so much.

>> Thank you so much, Jared, so great to be here.

>> Bye.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Some detective work and a return to Oz.

Both are on the bill in Arts This Week.

Sunday is your last chance to view Art of the Garden: Double Bloom at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

You'll find floral-themed sculptures and paintings by artists Joan Snyder and Rebecca Hutchinson.

(orchestra playing Beethoven's Symphony No.

5.)

Wednesday marks the 80th anniversary of BBC Radio's first airing of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

The piece, like this version, was a subversive symbol of the Allied efforts during World War II for its metering, which in Morse Code translated to V, for victory.

The spirit of Billie Holiday lives on at the Cape Playhouse.

Experience the music and musings of the vaunted singer in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill Monday.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world-renowned inspector and Dr. Watson reunite in Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

The comedy caper continues its run Thursday with Gloucester Stage Company.

The Wizard of Oz has returned.

There's no place like the Emerald City in a new adaptation presented by Berkshire Theatre Group.

The play premieres Friday.

Next, a key figure in the New Mexico art scene, artist Raymond Jonson, spent his life painting Modernist works.

And here we see and learn how he kept the focus on the human spirit front and center.

♪ ♪ >> It's a lot of fun kind of decoding works and, and Jonson just kind of takes you out on this...

I don't know, when I look at them, it's like, they just make my eyes feel fun.

♪ ♪ Raymond Jonson really is my favorite painter.

These late-period pieces are really a question to me.

We're looking at him at the apex of his spiritual expression.

♪ ♪ And we're looking at him as a mature adult who's refined his techniques.

He's no longer really experimenting with the technical aspect of art, but really, what can he say?

♪ ♪ We look at this and Raymond Jonson has just gone through a tragedy in his life-- his wife has passed away-- and instead of responding in this negative, dark way, he's really celebrating her life and life in general.

I mean, this color palette is, is looking upward, it's looking into the skies of New Mexico and it's expressing something different.

It's, it's no longer tethered to the Earth, and we're really moving into a different spiritual expression and a different dialogue with spirituality.

♪ ♪ He is exploring the boundaries of the canvas more.

He has fully lifted the curtains, and now the works move off the canvas, it's off the picture plane.

As the viewer, when I approach one of these, I'm immediately wondering, where does this line finish?

Where's the conclusion of this shape?

How does this color fade resolve itself?

And within the picture, it's complete.

It gives you everything that you need to feel a sense of finality in the work, but it also then asks you that question of, "Well, what, what's going on over here?"

♪ ♪ So in that, the conversation has shifted.

He's zoomed in, but by zooming in, he's allowing us to ask, "What else is there?"

♪ ♪ And I do love that it just challenges people's preconceptions of what New Mexican art can be and what it was, and, like, these pieces are contemporaneous with all the cowboy and Indian stuff, and this is as much New Mexican art as anything else.

♪ ♪ He really never stopped making art, and in that, these pieces are beautiful, and they're a beautiful culmination, kind of conclusion for his career as an artist, but what he left us in that is the ability to look a little further.

It's the question of why.

♪ ♪ I feel Raymond Jonson really still has a lot to teach us.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: Venice is famed for its glass, but you can experience it a little closer to home in Florida, at the Boca Raton Museum of Art.

It's now featuring an exhibition of more than 30 international artists who worked with an historic studio in Murano, Italy, to freshen the form.

♪ ♪ >> Adriana Berengo wanted to start this project where you make it relevant to the contemporary world again, by bringing contemporary artists who are not glass artists to work in a new medium.

You know, work with these maestros who have, you know, they're generations of experts.

So, you know, these people know everything there is to know about glass.

>> The artists, as certainly we have seen this last year, have responded to contemporary events.

Tim Tate's work, that is really about the pandemic.

>> This is his second pandemic, because he's an HIV-positive artist.

He did go through, you know, so many people dying of AIDS.

♪ ♪ >> The whole idea of Glasstress is sort of endemic from the very beginning, from the very concept, something that was sort of born of fire and becomes this amazing object that is at once fragile, but also, there's sort of a durability about it.

There's a toughness about it.

I mean, I think of the works like Nancy Burson's DNA Has No Color, these block letters, which has a very strong message to it, or behind me, you see Vik Muniz's large goblets.

That he takes a simple wine goblet and, and makes it life-size.

>> You just associate Venice with those colors and that imagery, and even in, you see those goblets in paintings, Venetian paintings, over the, you know, the centuries.

♪ ♪ >> Oh, it's almost impossible to come to a glass workshop and not to be fascinated with the material.

♪ ♪ Glass is so flexible.

Glass can become almost anything you want.

It belongs already to the creative realm.

♪ ♪ >> Each of these works are very different from one another, just as each of the artists are different, and that's what's so brilliant about the Berengo studio-- he's inviting artists of all sorts of persuasions, and really tests the will of the maestros, who are adept at turning this liquid form into something that's provocative and fragile, and, as we see in this exhibition, full of meaning.

>> A video artist could actually make something out of glass, or an installation artist.

It's wide open, so, it's just for the artist to come up with an idea and for the maestros to figure out how to do it.

>> I was invited by the curator to participate in Glasstress.

And I thought this is a great opportunity to try a new material.

I had never tried to work with glass before, because I know that the technique is so difficult.

And I happen to be a sculptor that likes to put the hands in the material.

So for me, glass was a fascination.

At the same time, I certainly had...

I had a certain sense of not being entirely with it.

>> Another one that's interesting is the Renate Bertlmann.

She represented Austria in the Venice Biennale, and you see the glass flowers, but they did a field of over 200 red glass flowers-- Berengo Studio did-- for the Austrian pavilion.

Some artists take, you know, the traditional and update it, like the piece behind you.

It's a traditional Murano glass mirror from the 18th-century style, but with this ghost image of a Bedouin woman.

♪ ♪ >> I think this exhibition that is born out of Venice, which has seen such difficulties last year, I think it really underscores the resilience that art has.

♪ ♪ >> BOWEN: And that is all for this edition of Open Studio.

Next week, a monument to the Kings.

And the new Massachusetts museum showcasing a rare collection of armored vehicles.

Until then, I'm Jared Bowen-- thanks for joining us.

As always, you can visit us online at GBH.org/OpenStudio.

And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter, @OpenStudioGBH.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪