Items tagged with 'arts'
EMPAC Fall 2010
The schedule for the upcoming fall season at EMPAC is out. And, as we've come to expect, it includes a bunch of interesting/odd/challenging shows.
Here are a few that caught our eye while scanning the list...
Frequency North 6
St. Rose's visiting writer series, Frequency North, starts up again this fall. And this year's lineup looks good.
A couple of the dates that jumped out at us on first pass:
October 14: Meghan Daum
Daum is the author of the novel The Quality of Life Report and, more recently, the memoir My Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in that House. She also writes a column for the LA Times and has appeared on This American Life. (That's her on the right.)
October 20: Scott Rosenberg
Rosenberg is one of the founders of the pioneering website Salon. He recently wrote Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters.
The full schedule is after the jump.
Sean Fallon, Charlotte Barrett & Virgin Alexander
Sean Fallon and Charlotte Barrett
When he was 13, Sean Fallon and his buddies were running around Saratoga making movies with a camcorder plugged into a VCR.
This summer, Sean Fallon and his wife and film making partner, Charlotte Barrett, will be running around Saratoga making movies again. Only this time they'll have high-def cameras, a professional crew and a cast that includes Bronson Pinchot (yep, Cousin Balki) , Paige Howard (Adventureland, daughter of actor/director Ron Howard) and Mika Boorem (Dawson's Creek, and a whole bunch of other stuff).
Sean and Charlotte wrote the script for Virgin Alexander -- their first feature film. They took time out from scouring garage sales and scouting locations to talk with AOA about the script, the cast, and shooting in Saratoga.
Where to go for good theater?
Chris emailed this week:
I moved here from NYC less than a year ago. I was deeply involved in off-off-broadway theater, but haven't seen/done any theater since the move. I know about Capital Rep and Proctors, but they're not what I'm looking for. Can you tell me where the fringe/experimental/black box performers and performances are here in Albany or nearby, like in Troy or Schenectady?
OK, here's what we know.
If you're interested in doing theater in the Capital Region, try putting yourself on the Capital District Audition List-Serve. Most theater and film companies will list their auditions there. It won't be all the experimental stuff you're looking for, but you can pick and choose.
There are a lot of theater companies in the Capital Region, and they do a pretty wide range of work. After the jump are a few that stand out for us.
We're sure there are others, so if you see something missing, add it to the list.
Voting opens for "community sponsored" Sculpture in the Streets
This year's Sculpture in the Streets exhibit in downtown Albany will feature works by J. Seward Johnson (a little background). And, for the first time, the exhibit will include a "community sponsored sculpture." From the web site:
One of the sculptures will be sponsored by you- the residents, employees and friends of the Capital Region! $3,000 will support one life-sized sculpture for the duration of the show. We ask everyone in our community to donate $1.00 and show how, especially in today's economy, collaboration is the key to success. To truly involve each of you, the sculpture will be chosen from one of the three [options] -- each $1.00 donation will serve as one vote for [a] sculpture ... Each donor will have his/her name printed in an ad in the Times Union this summer to celebrate our community coming together in this effort!
The thumbnail on the right is one of the options (title "Generation Bridge"). Voting started today and goes through May 21.
The kickoff party for this year's Sculpture in the Streets is June 18.
Earlier on AOA:
+ Sculpture in the Streets 2009
+ Sculpture in the Streets 2008
Dance collaborators for Sea of Trees
Dylan from local band Sea of Trees emails:
We recently played a show with our friends in Wobble Dance Co down in Brooklyn, NY. It was the first time we played a show like that, providing the music for a live dance show and it was a great experience! [video is embedded above]
We had so much fun doing this that we are hoping to put together a similar show in Albany. We're currently looking for both a venue and a local dance company that might be interested in putting something together. It occurred to us that it might make a good 'ask aoa' post, since we're not sure where to start looking. We might get some good suggestions. Who knows?
Maybe the who in this case is you. If you have suggestions, please share.
Sea of Trees is a great band. We bet they'd be fun collaboration partners.
State inspector general: more than $1 million in improper spending at NYSTI
Oh, the drama. A report out from the state Inspector General's office today alleges that Patricia Snyder, the director of the New York State Theater Institute (which is in Troy), "repeatedly violated state laws on nepotism and used the state authority to steer nearly $700,000 in payments and benefits to her husband, her children, and herself, while overseeing an additional $475,000 in questionable expenses."
A sampling of the allegations in the IG's report are after the jump.
The IG's office also alleges that Snyder "took actions to frustrate and mislead the inquiry" and at one point said:
"You know, you are getting into very dicey waters, artistically. I will tell you, the arts community will be up in arms with this line of questioning. We are talking about artists . . . Art is not like running an OGS office."
Snyder is NYSTI's founding director. According to the org's website, "Snyder believed that theatre for family audiences must be of the highest quality, and that theatre can be used to make the world a better place."
The Paterson administration's proposed budget this year planned to cut state funding for NYSTI by half this year and completely next year. A group popped up to oppose the cuts. From a recent post on the wall of the Save NYSTI Facebook page by Snyder: "Everyone, write your Senators and ask them to restore funding to NYSTI during budget negotiations. It's the last chance."
Update: E. Stewart Jones, who's representing Snyder, told NYT: "This report is mean spirited and monumental nonsense."
Rebecca Goldstein at UAlbany
This could be interesting: philosopher Rebecca Goldstein will be at UAlbany Tuesday for a reading organized by the New York State Writer's Institute. It's at 8pm in the Science Library on the uptown campus. It's open to the public.
Goldstein's novel 36 Arguments for the Existence of God was released earlier this year. A reviewer for the Washington Post called it "a brainy, compassionate, divinely witty novel." Janet Maslin described it in NYT as "overcomplicated yet dazzling, sparked by frequent flashes of nonchalant brilliance." Here's an excerpt.
Also: Dartmouth professor Michael Chaney will be at St. Rose Wednesday for a public talk about "Subject and History in The African American Graphic Novel." It's at 6:30pm in the Lally Building.
photo: Steven Pinker. Yep, that one.
Kevin Craig West
He plays Reverend Sykes in Mockingbird.
Kevin Craig West could easily win the title for hardest working guy in show business. The Arbor Hill native and Troy resident is an actor, producer, director, writer and editor who is constantly networking.
West recently named best actor at the Knickerbocker Film Festival for his work in Mike Feuerstein's film The Greatest Man Alive. And he's currently appearing in Capital Rep's production of To Kill A Mockingbird.
We got together with West last week to talk about the strange way he backed into his career, Arbor Hill, the growing film scene in the Capital Region and car chases with Angelina Jolie.
Just Noticeable Difference extended
EMPAC has expanded the run of Chris Salter's Just Noticeable Difference installation because of demand. From the blurb:
On entering the installation the visitor is immersed in an environment of near-total darkness, insulated against external sound and vibration. Sparked by an array of sophisticated built-in sensors and devices that emit micro-levels of tactile, auditory, and visual feedback, the slightest motions cause this environment to respond, though so subtly as to test the limits of both perception and interpretation. The result is a revelatory aesthetic experience in which noise shifts towards order, sensation becomes sense, and the apparent randomness of threshold sensory impressions gives way to a new understanding of meaning in the relationship among body, self, and external world.
The installation will now be open until Friday. You have to get a reservation to check it out: 276-3921.
Disclosure: Yep, EMPAC gave us concert tickets to giveaway recently. We're mentioning this installation because it sounds weird and different (in a good way).
TvFilm 2.0
WMHT's indie cinema series is looking for another round of submissions:
WMHT is looking for the very finest, unique and original independently made short films upstate New York has to offer in order to showcase on TvFILM, premiering in June. Hosted by Brandon Bethmann, TvFILM will also engage dialogue with winning filmmakers to discuss the inspiration, ideas and concepts behind their work. In addition, TvFILM will profile the people, places and events that are shaping WMHT's growing independent film and media community.
The deadline to enter is April 16.
The author Sapphire coming to Sage
Sapphire -- the author of Push, the novel from which the film Precious (trailer) was adapted, will be giving a talk at the Sage campus in Troy next Thursday (February 25).
Precious opened to widespread acclaim last year (it's been nominated for six Oscars). But Push created its own stir -- because of its subject matter, voice and advance -- when it was first published in 1996.
Sapphire told NPR last year that she based the books on her own experiences as a remedial reading teacher:
The author says that she encountered girls like Precious while teaching -- overweight girls who didn't fit into the confines of our society's beauty paradigm, girls who were essentially "locked out" of the broader culture.
"I wanted to show that this girl is locked out through literacy. She's locked out by her physical appearance. She's locked out by her class, and she's locked out by her color," says Sapphire. "I encountered this. I had a student who told me that she had had children by her father."
The talk starts at 8 pm in Schacht Fine Arts Center on the Troy Sage campus -- there's a screening of Precious at 6 pm (the center is at 1st and Division). Tickets are $5 at the door ($3 for students, free for Sage students).
Sapphire recently spoke to a big crowd at the University of Michigan. We've heard from Sage that they've already changed the talk to a larger venue because of expected attendance.
$50k would be refreshing
The Foundry -- an arts startup in Cohoes -- is currently seventh in the voting in a national competition for a group of $50,000 grants. The top 10 projects at the end of this month finish in the money.
The competition is sponsored by Pepsi. You can vote online (you have to fill out a form first, and then push the "vote" button on the page).
Artists Lynne Allard and Jesse Matulis are behind the Foundry. From their site:
The Foundry is a unique integration of the arts, design, heritage, preservation and public art; committed to enriching community through culture. Public exhibitions and performances, public art, preservation of significant sites and interpretation of local history deepen our connections to the places in which we live and work.
The project is located in a former bank on Remsen Street in downtown Cohoes.
CAPITAL LIT
St. Rose is hosting the first Albany Lit Mag and Small Press Fair this Saturday. From organizer Daniel Nester's web site:
Hundreds of regional and national independent literary publishers will converge to sell their journals for only $2 an issue and books for $4 each. Many publishers will attend in person to meet Albany's eager readers, so don't miss this opportunity to discover literature you are unlikely to find in a single store, and meet the publishers and editors who do the real work of keeping American Literature vibrant and vital.
There will also be readings and discussions throughout the day. The fair runs from noon to 6 pm in St. Joseph's Auditorium on the CSR campus. It's free.
But, wait. There's more. The day will be capped off with an event called "Karaoke + Poetry = Fun" at Valentine's at 7 pm.
The Puppet People of Schenectady
Michelle, Mark and a few of their friends.
Schenectady's Michelle Smith-Carrigan and Mark Carrigan advertise themselves as "your puppet professionals."
Seriously, how much fun must they have at parties?
"So what do you do for a living?"
"Well, actually, I'm a puppet professional..."
David Hyde Pierce at Home Made Theater
Home Made Theater, the theater company in Saratoga, is hosting its 25th anniversary benefit March 27 at the Spa Little Theater -- and David Hyde Pierce will be appearing (he grew up in Saratoga).
Here's the scoop: tickets for the event are $65 and only available via invitation -- but you can request an invitation by sending your mailing address to info@homemadetheater.org.
HMT will then send you an invite. Then you send back your ticket request immediately, because the event is expected to sell out right away.
The evening will feature cocktails, food, music and "surprise" entertainment that will include David Hyde Pierce.
EMPAC's spring schedule
The schedule for the upcoming season at EMPAC is out and it includes a bunch of events that look interesting/challening/odd/beautiful.
Here are a few that caught our eye...
Flamenco in Troy
The Troy Savings Banks Music Hall has a show coming up next week that could be fun: Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.
From a TSBMH release:
"A Compás" features Paco and two other guitarists, a percussionist, vocalist and three dancers. Its goal is to transmit to the audience the compelling nature of a range of flamenco rhythms, from the almost tribal, trance-inducing quality of the "alboreá"" to the razor-sharp complexity of the "bulería."
Here are a few video clips of "A Compás" from two years ago.
Peña is apparently one of the world's foremost Flamenco guitarists. The Guardian described one of his recent performances in London as "a larky fiesta."
The performance is October 1 at 8 pm. Tickets start at $20.
The theater empire based in... Latham
Bruce and his partner Marilyn Abrams on the set of Shear Madness
Bruce Jordan is a funny, funny man.
How funny is he?
Funny enough to make 8 million people laugh.
More than 30 years ago he took a very unfunny play and turned it into Shear Madness -- the longest running play in the history of American theater.
Shear Madness has played all over the US and in more than 15 cities worldwide. Tonight the show will run in Washington DC, Boston, Albany (at Capital Rep), Charlotte, Milwaukee, Athens (Greece), Barcelona and Warsaw, just to name a few.
And Bruce Jordan runs the show from his office off-Broadway. Waaaay off Broadway.
In Latham.
The Dollar Store Show
The traveling literary show (yep, that's what we said) is rolling into town tonight for a free show at Valentine's. So, what's the word? From the The Dollar Store Show site:
Stealing from the Chicago improv community's bag of tricks, The Dollar Store uses a "suggestion" for the pieces performed in the show. Each writer is given an item purchased at a local dollar store (mundane to insane) and a month to craft a story (fiction or non-) that involves the item as directly or obliquely as the author wishes. The item is then put on display during, or incorporated into the performance.
Here's a piece about the show from Current.tv.
In addition to TDSS' traveling lineup, tonight's show will feature local writers Colie Collen, Shane Jones and Daniel Nester.
The show starts at 7 pm.
Cheap tickets at Capital Rep
If you're looking for some "cheap fun" this 4th of July weekend, but fireworks and potentially soggy barbecues aren't your thing, here's something you might want to try. Local theaters have a little more trouble filling seats on big summer holidays.
Bad for them -- good for you.
Radio and Juliet
A scene from Radio and Juliet
Next week's schedule at Jacob's Pillow includes a ballet featuring the music of Radiohead. We're not sure if Radio and Juliet looks different and interesting... or just a little odd and head-scratch-inducing.
Here's the blurb from the JP site:
Transport into a universe of razor-sharp dancing, video effects, electronic rhythms and beautiful melodies with a new take on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, set to the music of Radiohead, today's most influential alternative rock band. In a rare U.S. engagement, this powerfully gorgeous contemporary ballet by Romanian choreographer Edward Clug, a fast-rising star and artistic director of Ballet Maribor, casts superb ballet dancers that give new life to this timeless tale of conflict, fate and love.
Here's a "trailer" for the performance.
There are performances July 1-5. Tickets are $59.50. But get this: if you're under the age of 35, you can score tickets for $35.
[via @PatrickDodson]
image: Jacob's Pillow
Sculpture in the Streets 2009
Untitled #1 by Amy Podmore squats between Broadway and James.
This year's Sculpture in the Streets collection is up in downtown Albany. This year's group includes 16 pieces by 11 artists. There's a walking tour of the collection that starts at the Hudson River Way Pedestrian Bridge.
B has posted a great photoset that includes many of the pieces -- it's sort of like a virtual walking tour.
The current collection will be on display until next April.
Earlier on AOA: Sculpture in the Streets 2008
photo: B
T. Rex in Troy
Yep, the hip is made of out of the Millenium Falcon.
We saw this dinosaur sculpture in Troy the other day and it made us smile (a bigger version of the pic). The sculpture overlooks the Hudson from a hilltop in Riverfront Park.
As far as we can tell, the piece is part of a series of recycled sculptures around the city. The series is organized by the same people behind Trashion.
Earlier on AOA:
+ Trashy looks at UAlbany's Ecouture
+ Sculpture in the Streets
+ Anatomy of a trashion piece
Brenny Rabine's life in the theater
This is her first appearance at Capital Rep.
Pretty much anytime we go to a theater in the Capital Region these days, the name Brenny Rabine comes up.
Brenny has been working as an actor, playwright, producer, teacher and actor in the Capital Region for years. Not in addition to her day job -- the arts are her day job.
And her night job.
These days Brenny can be seen in Capital Rep's production of Boston Marriage. She took a little time before getting into make-up to talk to AOA about life upon the wicked stage and how she manages to make a living as an actor in the Capital Region.
... said Anonymous about The Albany metro area is "brainy"