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July 15, 2012 (85 events)
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Events for July 15, 2012
KOFEST: A QUEER DIVINE
Sunday Jul 15, 2012, 4:00 PM - 5:15 PMA QUEER DIVINE is Sara Felder’s whimsical, moving and theatrical reflection on art, aging, grief and revelation. Written and performed by Felder, it was developed with David O’Connor who has directed two of the performer’s shows. In A QUEER DIVINE, Felder ponders, juggles and finally embodies the facts of her existence: She likes art, she can’t dance and people she loves are going to die. Using her signature style of integrating circus shtik and object-play with personal narrative, Sara explores transitions – between birth and death, between Brooklyn and Manhattan, between ballet and modern. As her mother lays dying, Sara remembers dance class, subway rides and theater lobbies where she stumbles upon life lessons about commerce, class, race and growing old. A QUEER DIVINE also examines the role of audience and artist, and the communal act of performance. There might also be a trip to the ballet.
Sara Felder is a solo theater artist, playwright, juggling diva, trickster and activist. As one reviewer has noted, "Calling Sara Felder a juggler is a little like referring to Michelangelo as that guy who painted ceilings."
She began performing as a juggler with the Pickle Family Circus in 1984, and has created five solo shows and three multi-actor plays over the years since then. Her solo plays June Bride and Out of Sight have been performed at the Ko Festival to great acclaim. They continue to tour.
She is at work on a new piece, Melancholy A Comedy. Felder has toured Cuba and Nicaragua with Jugglers for Peace, Europe with the Klezmatics, and Ft. Lauderdale with Joel Grey’s Borscht Capades. Felder has taught juggling to inmates at San Quentin through the Cal. Arts Council and has been honored with many awards and fellowships.
Felder teaches performance at the Berkeley Repertory Theater and the Marsh in San Francisco, and will be teaching a workshop here at the Ko Festival this summer.
Felder fiercely believes in the power of humor and laughter to help dive into the most difficult, controversial and provocative issues. She lives in Oakland, CA with her partner Dev, a rabbi, and their son, Jesse, a middle-school filmmaker and Calvin & Hobbes maven.
When not performing or teaching, she enjoys playing the ancient game of Go on her post-modern phone. Learn more about her work at www.sarafelder.com.
All performances take place in Amherst College’s accessible, air-conditioned Holden Theater on the Amherst College campus. The theater is located just behind the Admissions Office off of S. Pleasant Street in Amherst, MA. Plenty of close, free parking.
Unless otherwise noted, tickets $20 Adults / $16 Students & Seniors. Call about a very limited number of $8 tix. Tickets and further information are available at www.kofest.com or by calling box office phone: (413) 542-3750.
Associated Group: Local Entertainment
Posted by: kofest
CD Release Party
Sunday Jul 15, 2012, 6:30 PM - 10:00 PMDaniel Hales and Frost Heaves new CD release party, "You Make a Better Door Than a Window. Festivities include poetry reading, art opening, Video viewing and album listening. Free. Starts at 6:30
Associated Group: Local Entertainment
Posted by: clegg
KOFEST:COMMUNICATIONS...
Sunday Jul 15, 2012, 8:00 PM - 9:15 PMCOMMUNICATIONS FROM A COCKROACH – Archy and the Under Side is drawn from the Archy and Mehitabel sketches, which were written by noted humorist and poet Don Marquis for his daily column in the New York Sun starting in 1916. The illustrious Archy is a cockroach who possesses the reincarnated spirit of a free-verse poet and who finds his means of expression by jumping from key to key on Marquis’ typewriter. He shares with us his misadventures as well as those of Mehitabel, an alley cat with the soul of Cleopatra. Archy, Mehitabel and their lowlife acquaintances face the bewildering challenges of the modern world with humor and determination. The production incorporates a wide array of puppet critters operated by actors in full view of the audience - from fleas, tarantulas and crickets, to an ancient Egyptian mummy - a colorful population from the nooks and crannies of early 20th century New York.
According to Mettawee director/designer Ralph Lee, “Although most of them have more than four legs, the characters created by Don Marquis are bursting with humor and wry observations of human nature. They took the stage by storm in our original production, and here they are again, in an expanded version of the show.”
COMMUNICATIONS FROM A COCKROACH, was originally co-produced by the Mettawee River Theatre Company and the Shakespeare Project in 2001. Critics called the show, “original, laugh-provoking and charming … a tribute to Ralph Lee, the show’s designer and director.” (New York Times - May 19, 2001); “an entertainment of considerable sophistication and plentiful delights.” (Back Stage - May 25, 2001); “turns a blast from the past into a smart contemporary kick.” (Village Voice – May 22, 2001). In addition to Mr. Lee’s puppets, masks and set, the production has costumes designed by Casey Compton. Actors Andrew Butler, Tanya Dougherty, Amelia Grossman, Tom Marion and Rob McFadyen will play multiple roles. The production will feature an original musical score composed by Neal Kirkwood, performed by musicians Dennis Sullivan (double bass) and Ed RosenBerg (percussion).
Under the Artistic Direction of mask maker, designer and director Ralph Lee, the Mettawee River Theatre Company, founded in 1975, creates original theater productions that incorporate masks, giant figures, puppets and other visual elements with live music, movement and text, drawing on myths, legends and folklore of the world’s many cultures for its material. The company is committed to bringing theater to people who may have little or no access to live professional performances.
In his design and direction, Lee seeks to create vivid theatrical moments with economy and elegance. This search for an evocative simplicity of image and Mettawee’s commitment to making theater accessible to the widest possible audience through its outdoor performances give the theater company its particular character.
Ralph Lee first created puppets as a child growing up in Middlebury, Vermont. He graduated from Amherst College in 1957, and studied dance and theater in Europe for two years on a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon returning to the United States, Lee acted on Broadway, off-Broadway, in regional theaters and with the Open Theatre. During that period he started creating masks, unusual props, puppets and larger-than-life figures for theater and dance companies, including the New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre, the Living Theatre, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Shari Lewis, the Metropolitan Opera and Saturday Night Live.
In 1974, while teaching at Bennington College, Lee staged his first outdoor production, which took place all over the college campus, and featured giant puppets and masked creatures. That same year he organized the first Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, which he directed through 1985. For his work on the parade Lee received a 1975 Village Voice OBIE Award, a 1985 Citation from the Municipal Arts Society, and in 1993 he was inducted into the City Lore People’s Hall of Fame.
Two of Lee’s Mettawee productions have been honored with American Theatre Wing Design Awards: The Popol Vuh in 1995 and Wichikapache Goes Walking in 1992. Under Lee’s direction, Mettawee also received a 1991 Village Voice OBIE Award and two Citations for Excellence from UNIMA, the international puppetry organization. Additional awards to Lee include a 1996 Dance Theatre Workshop Bessie Award for “sustained achievement as a mask maker and theatre designer without equal,” and a 1996 New York State Governor’s Arts Award in recognition of his many contributions to the artistic and cultural life of New York State. In 2003, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors. In 2008 Lee served as the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland at College Park. In 2011 and 2012, he traveled to Romania to collaborate on the creation of an outdoor theatre production, addressing the issues faced between the Romanian and Roma (gypsy) communities. He is currently on the faculty of New York University.
For more information about the Mettawee River Theatre Company, including a full schedule of this summer’s outdoor tour, visit the company’s web site at www.mettawee.org.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM A COCKROACH will be performed out under the stars on the Amherst College Observatory Lawn off of Snell Street. Adults $8, children under 12 $6.
Bring blankets and lawn chairs but leave the pets at home! Rain space: Amherst’s Holden Theater.
Tickets and further information are available at www.kofest.com or by calling the box office at : (413) 542-3750.
Associated Group: Local Entertainment
Posted by: kofest
