Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 77

I- INSIDE: I IN ETJ' fTEKTAMV Section Best bets, Page 7 Classics, Page 7 Movie guide, Page 9 Call Entertainment: 222-6828 Check out November's flavor in "A Taste of the Arts." Critics' tips, Page 4J. Sunday, Oct. 31, 1993 Detroit 4ftce Vubb J9t r' I 'Child' makes viewer care by Marsha Miro Free Press Art Critic i i I. A Mask: A spirited gallery I ceiling and remnants of other im- I 1 provements have been removed, leav- I ing an awkwardly long, white room I I with a skylight. Durine the summer.

Woman has twins, gives up the one with Downs syndrome for adoption. Grieving grandparents sue for custody. On its face, CBS's "No Child of Mine" sounds just like the florid, sen Susan STEWART outdoor performances and barbecues are held in the "garden" out back. Most people would say the garden is really a concrete parking lot. But then, the alternative art space called Mask is all about how we see things.

"People use masks to cover up things," says Eugene Clark, artist-musician and cofounder of Mask. 9 Television sationalized, fam-ilies-in-crisis hype we're used to enduring in the name of But "Child" (at 11:35 p.m. tonight on Channel 2, thanks to WJBK- and finds they weigh about the same. You get to be judge and jury. The result is that "Child" elicits a level of viewer involvement rare for a TV movie.

The characters are compelling. On one side is Patty Duke, a ferocious, dominating grandmother. On the other is Tracy Nelson, a recovering screw-up struggling for independence. One wants to raise the handicapped infant; the other wants to give him to a couple with a houseful of special-needs kids. Who's right? Who cares? Both give magnetic performances.

Duke is becoming our foremost TV-movie star. In the Tyne Daly tradition, she chews up scenery, furniture and anybody who happens to be in her path. But since her roles are always full of righteous indignation, her overwrought style doesn't seem like overacting. Here, Duke practically leaps off the screen as a well-to-do See 'CHILD', f(ge5J fa which has given new life to a former second-floor doctor's office on Jos. Campau.

Here, musicians, poets, dancers, performance and fine artists push their art to the edges. Here, artists are seen for their passion and vision and the connections they make with others, not for what they can sell. "The idea of this space was that it be something that conceals and reveals hidden forces, things that are dynamic, not just clever art," says David Scott-Risner, also a Mask founder and sculptor. "I'd rather not talk about ,.4. ilfi'iiiir-riiiiwriiiiiirifiririit appalling decision to air the movie "Dirty Dancing" at 9 p.m.) is different.

Unlike the recent Baby Jessica movie, this one doesn't present you with a closed case. It puts its unsettling facts on a scale See MASK, Page 5J DAYMON J. HARTLEYDetrolt Free Press David Scott-Risner (left) and Eugene Clark are cof ounders of the Mask gallery. In the background is Detroit artist Robert Hyde. it.