Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The 7th annual Moving Landscapes performance continues the CRS Barn Studio tradition of bringing innovative dance and music partnerships to Ithaca audiences. Beginning with an outdoor prologue performed in the gardens, with a panoramic view of Cayuga Lake, the evening will include choreographed pieces in a variety of dance styles, as well as music-and-dance improvisations that engage audience members in a lively creative process. This is a rare opportunity to see choreographic work in all stages of development and to observe dance-making in action, in an informal setting.

SMART TALK SMART TALK

Dr. Saber S. Poder

REASON: The Center for English as a First Language is raising money for a Redundancy Unit. A selection of our staff will specialize in the psychological roots of this widespread malady, so we can treat it more effectively.

One of the many symptoms of compulsive redundancy is the inability to use reason as a noun by itself. For centuries, speakers and writers have wanted to know the reason why when all they’ve needed to know is the reason.

Even clumsier, the reason is because has both amused and sickened English teachers for many careers.

It can get even worse. The truly unthinking are capable the the reason why is because. These unfortunates also commit howlers such as all alone by myself. Yeah, solitarily. With no one else.

The reason they don't use English as if it were their first language is that they don't hear themselves, not even at 11 A.M. in the morning, when they should be awake and alert.

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Paul Colucci's show “Sculptural Objects”, opens Wednesday, August 6th and runs through through Sunday, August 31st at The Gallery at FOUND.

For almost thirty years Paul Colucci has been immersed in a creative process that is tangible, yet fragile and elusive. The process starts with the beauty seen in the old weathered objects that have been a part of his life since his childhood in upstate New York.

Triphammer Arts Inc. announced three performances of Don Quixote at the Wedding of Comacho, a one-act comic opera by Georg Philipp Telemann, directed by Steven Stull with choreography by Jeanne Goddard. Performances are August 1, 2, and 3 at 7:30pm at the CRS Barn Studio, 2622 North Triphammer Road in Ithaca.

This rarely performed opera features Steven Stull as Don Quixote and David Neal as his faithful sidekick, Sancho Panza, with Rebecca Leistikow, Ivy Walz, Lynn Craver, Michael Roddy, and Jon English playing a range of colorful characters, accompanied by Richard Montgomery and William Cowdery at the keyboards. A chorus of enthusiastic shepherds sings and dances at the wedding feast. Weather permitting, performances will be outdoors, with a panoramic view of Cayuga Lake. In case of rain the performance will move indoors at the same location.

Running to Places Theatre Company (R2P) kicks off its summer season with a musical revue not to be missed: R2P’s Best of Broadway — a collection of songs from R2P’s past, present, and future, running July 17-19 at the Kitchen Theatre, 417 West State/MLK Jr. Street in Ithaca. A dynamic group of the company’s youngest performers (grades 6-9) will present numbers from Fame, Rent, Pippin, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and many more.

For the first time in their seven year history, the youth community theatre company will be “running” to the Kitchen Theatre. The newly renovated and air-conditioned theatre, seating 99 audience members on three sides of the stage, “provides us with fresh staging possibilities for musical numbers, as well as learning opportunities for young performers accustomed to traditional theatres where the audience all sits out in front,” says R2P’s artistic director Joey Steinhagen. “We’re thrilled to be at the Kitchen.”

Continuing its 40th Mainstage Season, the Hangar Theatre's artistic director Jen Waldman will direct, Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, July 10 until July 26, 2014. This hilarious musical, based off of the 1960 movie, is cosmic fun for the whole family. With toe tapping tunes and a carnivorous alien planet, this show is sure to entertain.

Ithaca College alum, Steve Pacek, returns to the Hangar stage as Seymore Krelborn, store clerk at Mr. Mushnick's (David Studwell) flower shop on Skid Row. Seymour finds new found fame and fortune after discovering a plant that is out of this world. The plant, Audrey II, is named after Seymour's crush and co-worker Audrey (Isabel Santiago). While the plant brings new opportunities to Seymore and the flower shop, it does not come without cost.

Tompkins County Public Library will showcase three fascinating exhibits and two new sculptures from 5 to 8 p.m. July 11 during Downtown Ithaca’s Gallery Night.

Featured Library exhibits are:  'A Common Thread:  To Sew or Not To Sew,'  'Visual Culture at Ithaca High School,' and 'I Look Silly.'  Sculptures 'In the Shadow of the Moon,' and 'Eclipse' by Sam Castner will also be available for viewing.

The Hangar Theatre announced the titles for its upcoming Wedge Series.  These four shows will be under the direction of the Drama League Directing Fellows, and will feature members of the Hangar Theatre Lab Company.

The Wedge Series opens with This Property is Condemned and Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, on June 19 and 20. Both plays are by Tennessee Williams and will be directed by Teya Sugareva. "We deal with the idea of how difficult it is to escape from a bad environment where we hardly can breathe. It is easy to say 'this property is condemned', but it's hard to find beauty in a world of indifference.

Continuing its 40th Mainstage Season, the Hangar Theatre will present, Around the World in 80 Days by Mark Brown, from June 26 until July 5, 2014. Directed by the Hangar Theatre's Jesse Bush, this hilarious adaptation based on the novel by Jules Verne will feature five actors playing a cast of dozens in a celebration of the magic of theatre.

It is 1872, when Phileas Fogg wagers that he can circle the globe in just 80 days. With his fortune on the line, Fogg and his sidekick Passepartout, travel by train, steamer, and even elephant as they try to reach the London Reform Club before the 21st of December. To make matters worse, Fogg is being accused of a bank robbery in London and Detective Fix will stop at nothing to arrest him. Along the adventure, the duo encounters countless dangers as well as a bit of romance.

The Kitchen Theatre Company completes its 2013-14 Season with the world premiere of a play set in Chicago’s South Side during the turbulent 1960s. SLASHES OF LIGHT by Judy Tate is produced in collaboration with Civic Ensemble. This production connects Civic Ensemble’s focus on community-based work by women and people of color with the Kitchen's two decades of producing bold, intimate work that starts “important conversations.” Previews are June 11, 12 and 13, opening night is June 14, and the play closes on June 29.

It’s September, 1966, and 14-year-old Sunny is excited about the start of the school year. She has plans to get her friend Kaleb to teach her how to dance the Gouster Bop, and after that, she is going to get the attention of Steven Blake, a guitar-playing loner on whom she has a major crush. Things are looking sunny for Sunny, but she wonders how things will work out when her all African-American junior high hires its first white teacher, Mrs. Hedges. The three teenagers have obstacles to overcome as they take their first steps as young adults, and Mrs. Hedges is eager to work with her new students but must find a way to escape her haunting past. Told with humor and humanity, SLASHES OF LIGHT is a unique look at coming-of-age and coming-to-grips with life’s unexpected challenges and discoveries.

To open its 40th Mainstage Season, the Hangar Theatre will be producing  six-time Tony Award winning play RED, by John Logan, from June 12 until June 21, 2014. Directed by the Hangar Theatre's Artistic Director Jen Waldman, this modern drama about an artist's ambition and vulnerability, will feature Hangar Theatre veteran and Ithaca resident David Studwell, and Paul-Emile Cendron who will be making his Hangar Theatre debut.

RED reveals the story of one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, Mark Rothko, who along with his assistant Ken, are struggling with the task of a recent commission from the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City.

Civic Ensemble and the Kitchen Theatre Company Tuesday announced the casting of the world premiere of SLASHES OF LIGHT by Judy Tate. SLASHES OF LIGHT tells the story of an African American girl’s coming-of-age in Chicago’s South Side during the turbulent 1960s.  This production connects Civic Ensemble’s focus on community-based work by women and people of color with the Kitchen's two decades of producing bold, intimate work that starts important conversations.

Civic Ensemble is a theatre company known for civic engagement work and new play development in both Ithaca and New York City. The New York Times called Civic Ensemble’s September 2013 Brooklyn, NY production of Eugene O’Neill’s rare classic ALL GOD’S CHILLUN GOT WINGS (directed by Civic Ensemble artistic director Godfrey Simmons) provocative and harrowing.