Around Town: June 29-30

Looking for a show to head to on this rainy (yet hot) weekend? Dance Place has just the ticket for you (well, you need to buy one, but you catch my drift).

Saturday, June 29, 2013

alight dance theater featuring Wayles Haynes & Angella Foster

Dance Place
A fusion of dance, shadow play and live music, artistic director Angella Foster’s Stargazing tells the story of the starry night from the spectacular death of a star to the backyard splendor of Bee Branch, Arkansas. Resident Artist Wayles Haynes weaves together family lore, fashion and mid-century Americana in The 50s Front. Artist co-presentation.
When: Saturday, June 29, 2013 (8:00 PM)
Where: Dance Place, 3225 8th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017
Fee? yes $22 General Admission; $17 Members, Seniors, Teachers and Artists; $10 College Students; $8 Children (17 and under)
Contact: Carolyn Kamrath, (202) 269-1608
For more information: click here

 

Sunday, June 30, 2013

alight dance theater featuring Wayles Haynes & Angella Foster

Dance Place
A fusion of dance, shadow play and live music, artistic director Angella Foster’s Stargazing tells the story of the starry night from the spectacular death of a star to the backyard splendor of Bee Branch, Arkansas. Resident Artist Wayles Haynes weaves together family lore, fashion and mid-century Americana in The 50s Front. Artist co-presentation.
When: Sunday, June 30, 2013 (7:00 PM)
Where: Dance Place, 3225 8th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017
Fee? yes $22 General Admission; $17 Members, Seniors, Teachers and Artists; $10 College Students; $8 Children (17 and under)
Contact: Carolyn Kamrath, (202) 269-1608
For more information: click here

Around Town: June 1-2

We have a hot weekend ahead of us, DC metro! Looking for a place to stay cool while still having a great time? Check out closing weekend of Constellation Theatre Company‘s Gilgamesh. Washingtonian Magazine said, “Constellation Theatre’s Gilgamesh is visually and aurally arresting,” and The Maryland Theatre Guide raved, “This world premiere of Gilgamesh must be seen, and heard, and witnessed. It will leave you lingering with wonder.” Don’t let these reviews do all of the talking–grab your tickets to see Gilgamesh and experience it this weekend before it’s gone!

Gilgamesh

Constellation Theatre Company
Closing night of Gilgamesh. The show runs from May 2 – June 2, 2013. Part god and part man, King Gilgamesh races the sun & journeys to the ends of the earth on his epic quest for immortality.
When: Saturday, June 1, 2013 (2:00 PM and 8:00 PM) and Sunday, June 2, 2013 (2:00 PM)
Where: at Source, 1835 14th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
Fee? yes – tickets start at $25.
Contact: Lindsey, (202) 204-7741
For more information: click here

At The Theatre …

Last night, at the National Theatre, theatreWashington announced the nominees for the 2013 Helen Hayes Awards. All together, theater companies in the Catalogue community received fifteen nominations. Many congratulations to …

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, which was featured in the first Catalogue in 2003, received eleven nominations, including Outstanding Director and Resident Production for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity.
Constellation Theatre Company, which recently joined the Catalogue community, received a nomination for the James MacArthur Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
Adventure Theatre MTC, which was featured in the 2009 Catalogue, received three nominations, including two for Outstanding Production, Theatre For Young Audiences.

Congratulations to the nominees and, of course, to theatreWashington itself — which was first featured in the Catalogue in 2006.

The Time Has Come

… This disease will be the end of many of us, but not nearly all and the dead will be commemorated and will struggle on with the living, and we are not going away. We won’t die secret deaths anymore. The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come.
Bye now.
You are fabulous creatures, each and every one.
And I bless you: More life.
The Great Work Begin.

Angels in America: Perestroika by American playwright Tony Kushner,
born today in 1956

In The News …

The cost of a nation of incarceration (CBS News): “Nationwide, the numbers are staggering: Nearly 2.4 million people behind bars, even though over the last 20 years the crime rate has actually dropped by more than 40%.” Michael Jacobson, director of the Vera Institute of Justice, points out that the US has “about 5% of the world’s population, but we have 25% of the world’s prisoners.” A report from Vera, “The Price of Prisons, finds that the cost of incarcerating one inmate runs up to $60,000 per year in some states. Says Walter McNeil, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, “… the vast majority of the people in prison are going to return to prison unless we do something different.”

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Of Invention

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
(Henry V)

O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
(The Tempest)

— William Shakespeare, whose 1564 birth is observed today

In The News … (more!)

Affordable housing means financial incentives, experts tell MontCo (Washington Examiner): “Yet 44 percent of renters in the county spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, said Michael Bodaken, president of the National Housing Trust. A minimum-wage earner would need to work four full-time jobs to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment in the county. The most realistic solution is to try to preserve some of the existing housing where rents are in danger of climbing, because working with existing structures costs one-third as much as building new housing, Bodaken said.” According to Roger Lewis, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, “it is going to take some public-sector financing, which then gets into the political briar patch.” (We also touched upon the high housing costs in Arlington in yesterday’s In The News)

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In The News …

Investing in Education, Workforce Development and the Safety Net Will Close the Income Gap (Huffington Post): “In other words, while our region’s economy has led to economic growth and prosperity for many on the middle and higher rungs of the ladder, residents on the bottom of the income scale largely are being left behind,” writes Terri Lee Freeman, president of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. “While philanthropy alone cannot address income inequality, it can make a difference. We believe economic security can be achieved by investing in three key areas: education, workforce development and the safety net.” Do you agree that these are the three key areas? What would you add?

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In The News …

Little known about DC’s young homeless, except that numbers are growing (Washington Post): “Though relatively little else is known about them, the number of homeless youths in the District has jumped, according to numbers released Tuesday by the National Center of Family Homelessness […] In 2010, 4,309 children were found to be without stable housing in a city where 27% of households pay more than 50% of their income for rent.” According to the State Report Card on Child Homelessness, “Virginia and Maryland ranked 18th and 22nd for risk for homelessness;” and the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates finds that a growing number of homeless individuals are also parents under the age of 24.

Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos (Philanthropy News Digest: PhilanTopic): “Our colleagues here in the Research Department have just released a new report that examines foundation giving to Hispanics in the U.S. and for Latin America over the last decade […] Foundation Funding for Hispanics/Latinos in the United States and for Latin America found that over the past decade, U.S. foundation giving intended to benefit Latinos remained steady at about 1% of total foundation giving, even as the Latino population in the US grew significantly.” The report, which gave particular focus to the 2007-2009 period, also found that the greater Los Angeles area received the largest share of both grant dollars (17%) and grants (13%) of any US metropolitan area in that time.

Theaters’ Fiscal Outlook Improves Slightly (Chronicle of Philanthropy): “The latest round of an annual survey of nonprofit theaters’ finances offers some optimism […] Theater Facts 2010, compiled by grant-making and advocacy outfit the Theater Communications Group, found total assets, including box office, gifts, and endowment earnings, exceeded expenses last year for the 113 organizations that have participated in the study for each of the last five years.” TCG head Teresa Eyring points out that rising attendance, at readings and workshops as well as full productions, also “bodes well for the health of theater overall.”

7 Questions – Buzz Mauro & Deb Gottesman (Theatre Lab)

Today, we are welcoming not one … but two non-profit leaders to “7 Questions.” Buzz Mauro and Deb Gottesman are co-directors of The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, which serves hundreds of youth and adults through its Life Stories program, and hundreds more through classes and summer camps in acting, directing, playwriting, and musical theatre .

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

We are about to embark on a project that is one of our “big dreams:” a theatre and documentary film project by and about the participants in our Life Stories program for homeless women residing in N Street Village’s Recovery Housing Unit. Life Stories is our signature outreach program which trains people from typically marginalized populations to create original dramatic works based on their real-life experiences. We work with incarcerated and severely at-risk youth, seniors, critically ill children and their families, as well as with formerly homeless women. And we now feel that it’s time to share the work of the women from N Street on a larger stage. The monologues, scenes, poetry, and more that these women have created are so powerful and so well-acted that we want to make sure their voices are heard — not only by social justice activists, but also by people who love great theatre.

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