Okay, so the piece might be a bit of fluff, but it's a much-deserved nod: Philippa, Tyler, and Jefferson all get nice mentions in the WaPo's Fall Arts Preview--as youngsters on the move! Those crazy kids.

Saturday: I arrived at 1515 just after 8:30--which would ordinarily be pushing my luck, anyway, but doomed me this night to miss most of the openings. Both the performance in the parking lot and the promised after-partying seemed to encourage everyone to shut down and get the heck out early.

I apparently also missed the most dynamic part of the YAY team's performance: They pulled into the parking lot in their El Camino; both artists were clad in black leotards (how else would you know it was performance art?), and wielding sledgehammers.

I'm told that they kicked out the car's front window and dramatically rolled out onto the hood...but by the time I had arrived, they were just slowly pacing around the car, effortfully raising their sledgehammers and letting them bounce ineffectually off of the car's frame.

I'm also told that the car was actually their car, which certainly adds some sort of dearness to the piece. It was, after all, billed as a "goodbye to guilt"--presumably the guilt of owning a gas guzzling car. But the kooky uniforms made the event feel less like a personal adieu to materialism and more like bad theater, or like one of those college/frat house fundraisers that includes car smashing as part of the entertainment.

I did enjoy hearing the hammer blows as I walked up the street and approached the crowd, and also enjoyed seeing the responses of some accidental spectators. Otherwise, I don't know. Still, I was happy for the change of pace, and frankly would like to see a lot more performances, successful or not, happening in conjunction with the usual openings.