Commemorating Lou Stancari

Posted on behalf of Emily Schalk:

Commemorating Lou Stancari, who would have celebrated his 64^th birthday today, December 4, 2011, we extend our most heartfelt gratitude to the faithful friends and colleagues of StLou, the FoLs, for their great support and sharing in sorrow.

In loving memory, his mother Jean and his sister Emily

 

Dein Schweigen

meine Stimme

Dein Ruhen

mein Gehen

Dein Allesvorüber

mein Immernochda

(Marie Luise Kaschnitz)

Today is St Lou's birthday

Lou celebrating his birthday in London - not very long ago. I miss you, Mr Stancari! xoxoxo

Missing Lou

Lou, I miss you so much! Saudades de você.

I think the earthquake and Irene were provoked by Lou - he wants Washington DC to wake up and find out the circumstances of his death. On a lighter note, I can't help wondering what he would say about such an eventful week!! Oh Louloulouloulou!! 

My Signature Story

Eric Schaffer has written an autobiography detailing his work with Signature Theater. I'm including the link to the review I read just because of the line "There are people in the Signature story about whom we’d love to know more. How did the company get so lucky as to have the talents of scenic designer Lou Stancari?"

http://dctheatrescene.com/2011/05/31/my-signature-story/

Investigation on Lou's death

If you are reading this blog you are probably aware that the circumstances of Lou's death remain unexplained.

This is just a note to let you know that we have not given up on knowing how he died. 

Follow the link to the story below, 

DC Med Examiner's Loses Accreditation

City officials say the D.C. medical examiner's office has lost its national accreditation because the agency's chief doesn't have board certification.

Read more: http://wttg.m0bl.net/r/g3d81

Renata 

Tribute to Lou Stancari: May 16 at Signature Theatre

Tribute to Lou Stancari at Signature Theatre

Monday, May 16. 2011- at 7:30 p.m.

Signature Theatre

4200 Campbell Ave.

Arlington Va. 22206

 (The location is in the Shirlington section in Arlington. Plenty of free garage parking.)

Below is a message from Lou Timmons, please spread the word:  

Dear Friends --

As you all know, our colleague and friend, Lou Stancari, died in January.  We all miss his unique brand of humor and his great spirit.  The National Museum of the American Indian, where Lou worked as a photo archivist, held a beautiful tribute to Lou which was exceedingly well attended (to use a theater term, it was SRO).  Lou’s Mom and sister were in attendance.

Now, as a further tribute to Lou and his gifts as a set designer and theater wonder, Signature Theatre will hold a theater-oriented tribute on Monday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m.  Lou’s Mom and sister and some more of his family will be able to attend this one, as well.  We are looking forward to "both families" getting togetherLou's birth family and his theater family.

Lou was a preeminent set designer for over 25 years in the Washington, DC area.  He started out in community theatre -- with three-in-a-row shows for The Arlington Players as the set designer for Blithe Spirit in the spring of 1986.  He continued that Summer, designing the set for John Moran's production ofThe Unsinkable Molly Brown at Lubber Run and followed that with Jack Marshall's production ofAmadeus.   After that, Lou continued working in community theatre as well as in local opera.

In 1990, when Eric Schaeffer and Donna (Lillard) Migliaccio started Signature Theatre, Lou was there from the beginning. He designed the show that put Signature "on the map" -- Sweeney Todd. And he won the Helen Hayes Award as best set designer for it, to boot!

Eric is putting the tribute together and to that end, if any of you have any photos you can email to me. Photos of Lou or of any of his sets (you know from production photos of shows), please send them to me.

And please, please... forward this email around throughout our community.  I don't have everyone's email address; am counting on you all to help spread the word so we all have an opportunity to pay tribute to the great Lou Stancari.

Here's the event information -- I hope you're all able to be there to pay tribute to the "one-and-only" LouStancari.

Monday, May 16. 2011- at 7:30 p.m.

Signature Theatre

4200 Campbell Ave.

Arlington Va. 22206

 The location is in the Shirlington section in Arlington. Plenty of free garage parking.

Camilla

OK, so I woke up at 2:55 AM Seattle time to watch the Royal Wedding. I know, I know, how gay is that?! Anyway, I loved it. Gorgeous dress, and they truly look like nice people. Can hear Lou saying, "Awwwwwww." Soooo wish I could hear what he'd say about Camilla! I still miss (and love) you Lou! xoxoxoxo to Renata and all the other FoLs.

Lou Lives in Whistler!

Had a delightful time in Whistler, British Columbia, this past weekend with Miranda, Nick, Ossian, and Isla, skiing and celebrating the memory of the great Lou!

Born to be Wild

Well, I have Lou's ballet DVDs and I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, I feel like I would rather have no DVDs at all and have Lou back, but I realize that's not going to be the case. On the other hand, I'm glad that they came to me and not to the library because they mean more than just the images; they mean a whole wealth of friendship. He used to check out the Kennedy Center gift shop and we'd discuss the merits of the different videos and whether they were worth getting. He and I both LOVED "Born to Be Wild: Leading Men of American Ballet Theater." Now, that's a GREAT production! I have such fond memories of him lending different ones to me and then happily asking what I thought about them later. I guess that's the real point of my having them- they were one more thing that we shared and now he's shared them with me again.

A good thing is soon snatched up

I was looking for this photo for a few days as Lou  always talked about this pub, the Black Friar. This was Nov 2004, the first time Lou came to visit. Mind you, I moved to London in October 2004 and a month later he was here, checking things out. Such a bliss! And, look at the writing on the wall...

I think Miranda said something really important in her post below. We should make sure we always do something Louish.
I haven't been behaving very Louishly this week but am working on it. I will report later in the week!

Cigarettes

I received a package with some of Lou's things from his mother, Jean, yesterday. It included a couple of his beautiful Tunisian tiles, which I expected, but also the black bag he always carried with some of its contents, including a little notebook, dental floss, and a pack of cigarettes, which Jean always referred to as Lou's "ciggies." (Was he carrying the bag when he died? How awful or, maybe, how wonderful that I have something that was literally on him during the last minutes of his life . . . .) I've hung the tiles. They're small, simple, and very beautiful. Catch and play with the light in a delightful way. Have left the cigarette pack on my coffee table. Feel's like he's out on the balcony grabbing a smoke . . . .

Helen Hayes plus more

I think both Tom and I had the pleasure of being Lou's date to the Helen Hayes awards. In fact I met Lou the night he won he Helen Hayes award for set design for Signature Theater's production of "Sweeney Todd". The year I was his date, he was nominated (of course...he was an incredible set designer) and when he didn't win he just breathed and said "Oh thank God!" I of course was disappointed but he was relieved not to have to make a speech. We proceeded to the after party and drank lots of wine.

Parties over the years

This is my old apartment on Capitol Hill where Lou was a regular visitor. He was always a must have guest ...entertaining everyone with his sharp wit. He also helped me arrange furniture and hang pictures so it would be "Lou approved". He didn't like how my furniture was up against the walls, way too boring. He said something like it looked like a giant had thrown it up....I can't remember exactly. And he was right...after he worked his magic, my place was much more beautiful.

Birthday Lou

This is Lou and I on my 29th birthday (just a few years ago). Lou spent many years celebrating with me. Saturday, the day of his memorial, was my 45th birthday so I got to spend another one with him. Love you Lou!

Lou on the Washington Post

Local set designer, Smithsonian archivist remembered

Memorial service to be held Saturday for Lou Stancari

To our beloved Lou and Uncle LouLou

Lou was so indiscribably much to us: a wonderful guy, the most favourite and coolest uncle ever, the godfather, the most doting great Uncle LouLou, a fantastic friend, a devoted family man.

We always eagerly anticipated his visits. He bravely faced snow, ice, monsoon-like rain, rockslides and heatwaves to come see us out here in the wilderness (and you know how he felt about flying or leaving the city limits). We always had a great time exploring giftshops with Lou, oh and also new places, museums, restaurants, bars and of course Starbucks...

We were so impressed with how easily he adapted to the arrival of his two greatnieces! He soon became one of the most knowledgeable people of babygear in Northamerica, trekking across Vancouver to find the best umbrella stroller and managing to find the perfect little party dresses for the girls (Nick still doesn't know how to do this). He called his greatnieces Munchkin and Muffin, and when they said something to him or cried he would turn around and say 'whaat?!'.

Here are some of our favourite Lou quotes: "Smoke time!", "oh my gawd...", "wait, wait, Wait!" (flapping hands), "Whaat?!", "B**ch!", "Get me the hell out of here!", "Now don't eat too much of that Miranda, or you'll never find yourself a husband...", "Giftshop!", "oh, isn't that cuuute" (referring to some baby/kids item).

We will miss his phone calls and visits so much, his cheeky comments and witty advice, his sarcastic humour (much appreciated by Nick!), his style, his fondness for our children, his excitement about and involvement in our new life in Canada, going exploring with him and seeing things we probably would have never seen otherwise, his cool and silly gifts, smokes and the voice on the other end of the phone saying "let me roll and I will talk to you later...". Everyday there will be something we will miss about Lou, but we will carry him with us in our hearts forever and wherever we go and make sure that we always say or do something Lou-ish!!

All our love,

Nick, Miranda, Ossian (Munchkin) and Isla (Muffin)

xxxx

Publications Department at L'Enfant Plaza

On behalf of Katherine: Group Photo taken of the NMAI's Publication Department in Cheryl's office at L'Enfant PLaza. Picture From left to right are Ann, Cheryl, Lou, Elizabeth and Terrence.

Lou and Jen at the GGHC GALA

Submitted on behalf of Katherine: The GGHC Gala in 1994 was a celebration of NMAI's new exhibition facility at the Custom's House in lower Mannhatan.

Following Lou

In 2008 I followed Lou to Dublin.

In this picture we are resting from a busy day, he looks happy, doesn't he? That is because we visited three museums that day, pretty good for his standards (but I was so tired that I didn't even want to be in the picture!)

quintessential Lou

Oh dear...I have no photos of me and Lou. These are all so wonderful, though. I didn't really get to know Lou until after I left NMAI and he came on two of his habitual visits to the UK to see Renata (and to visit his neice, then at university). The irascible, cranky, sarkky (you Brits know what this means!) Lou that I knew from work days was transformed into a generous, funny and wry witty guy who entertained, amused and touched me. I'm so glad that I got to see this side of Lou and can't believe I won't be raising any more glasses of wine with him - all the restaurant photos of him are quintessential Lou to me...here's lookin' at you, Lou.

At the end of the day.

I love the look on Lou's face here - near the end of the evening.

Lou by Chuck

Below are Chuck's photos and comments:


 

"2009_Winter" was snapped on a cold night at a German restaurant - notice that Lou seems dubious about the server's accent.

 




"2008_Summer" comes from a party at my house, when Lou insisted on praying to Bacchus before we ate and drank.

 




"2008_Spring" was easy to title - I knew it was Spring because Lou was wearing black. Oh, wait...

 


"2007_Summer" is my all-time favorite - something oddly appropriate about the sign just behind him, don't you think?




All the photos and comments above are Chuck's.

A Lovely Evening in Istanbul.

Lou and Re met me in Istanbul when I was there at a conservation conference. We had a really lovely evening on Istiklal Caddesi eating, shopping, looking and laughing.

Everything was Lou-Lou ful at the ballet

Lou and I went to the ballet a LOT! I was so thrilled to have found somebody who shared such a deep interest in ballet and who knew so much. He could discuss the history of various productions, the nature of certain companies and the personal lives of the ballerinas. We used to elbow each other at the more difficult technical parts, including the last promenades in the Rose Adagio and the beginning of the Willis hop. We made fools of ourselves snickering when the corps were overly loud in that last one. Sometimes we argued about the merits of particular ballets. He had a greater appreciation for certain modern pieces than I did. We both adored the classic works such as Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty and carefully evaluated the success of the different productions. His background in set design gave him an ability to see far beyond the dancing and I was so lucky to get his insights.

I realize that there will be more Rose Adagios in my life and more loud Willis, but there will never be another Lou. What I'm going to miss will be our ballet rituals- the shared glass of wine, the cinnamon Altoids, and the cheerful discussion of the other women's shoes. I hope that everybody in the world has somebody like Lou in their lives- somebody who shares a deep interest of yours and who rejoices in sharing it with you.

Lou looking classy!

Lou was my date to the American Indian Inaugural Ball back in 2009. He wore his Armani tuxedo and I was so happy to be escorted by such a dashing young man! I had gone with him when he picked up the tuxedo at Nordstrom's and afterwards, we went for a drink at the Ritz Carleton and talked about Monica Lewinsky. I think he liked the tuxedo because it was a classier version of his traditional black shirt and black pants. I'm sorry to say that I can't remember what socks he wore to the ball, but I'm positive that they were colorful.

LouLouBug, the elusive Jessie, CathyCola stormin' the Hills of Capitol on a stunning evening in DC.

Zacks

Oh we had a time or two at Zacks and maybe a drink or two also. Cheers to you Lou! A Jameson on us.

Getting lost in Istanbul with Lou

I followed Lou to Istanbul last September.
I followed him every where, but not to all the four museums and three sites he wanted to visit each day!

We got lost a lot. In these pictures he is looking for "the bridge".

We ended up crossing the wrong bridge. We didn't mind very much because after a few hours and lots of adventures we ended up near this beautiful sculpture.

Lou, I don't know where you are or what happened to you, but my heart will always follow you.

St. Lou

This is the first of what I'm sure will be many postings. Thank you, Renata for making "I Love Lou!" happen!

So, I lost my wallet last night, prayed to St. Lou, and found it! I'm thinking someone needs to design a Lou icon.

I can't say I miss Lou because I won't let him go. Lou's in my heart and will be always.

You and Abe are the best men ever. I will visit you both at the Memorial often. I love you. Cathy