Artist Spotlight returns to Eastlake

Eastlake Framing in Bend will celebrate the start of its 30th year by resurrecting its Artist Spotlight series from 5-8 tonight.

The artist in question: award-winning, self-taught landscape photographer Stuart L. Gordon. The event is free and open to the public. Complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Gordon’s work is available for purchase and will display through March.

Eastlake Framing is located at 1335 N.W. Galveston Ave., Bend.

Contact: www.eastlakeframing.com, 541-389-3770.

Tower brings the (Thomas) Paine

At 7 p.m. Saturday, actor and playwright Ian Ruskin will present his one-man play “To Begin the World Over Again: The Life of Thomas Paine” at the Tower Theatre, 835 N.W. Wall St., Bend.

Ruskin studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and starred as the titular character in the play “Jack the Ripper.” He moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and took roles in which he usually played, as it says in his bio, “the intelligent bad guy” on winning shows such as “Murder, She Wrote” and “MacGyver.”

In 1994, Ruskin was cast as real-life labor leader Harry Bridges, whose values deeply affected Ruskin’s career. His portrayal of Paine is another step toward “highlighting visionary and misunderstood figures from American history,” as his bio says.

Ben Miles of Showmag.com in Los Angeles had this to say of the performance as Paine: “Not only do we learn of a largely untold slice of the American story, we also get to see an actor in top form. So nuanced and layered is Ruskin’s performance, and so enlightening is his script, it’s as if Paine has been brought to back life just to speak to us.”

Tickets are $14.25 to $19.75. Proceeds benefit the League of Women Voters of Oregon education fund.

Contact: www.towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.

‘No Talent Show’ auditions on Saturday

The Central Oregon Gay Straight Alliance and other organizations are holding auditions at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for a “No Talent Show” to be held March 8.

The auditions will be held at Central Oregon Community College’s Pickney Center for the Arts, 2600 N.W. College Way, in Bend.

The winner of the show will get a cash prize. Video auditions are encouraged for those who can’t make it on Saturday.

Contact: devonhulick777@gmail.com.

— David Jasper