New Hearing Loop Breaks Down Barriers to the Arts

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Atan evening ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center unveiled a newly installed telecoil, or T-coil,compatible hearing loop in Thrivent Financial Hall, making it the first Broadway presenting theater in Wisconsin to offer the latest hearing loop technology. 
A group of donors and accessibilityadvocates attended the event which offered the Center an opportunity to celebrate this latest improvement. Susan Stockton, president ofthe Fox Cities P.A.C., expressed appreciationfor a surge of local support saying, “The Center’s accessibility services committee identified a needfor a T-coil hearing loop, but it took a community effort for this projectto take shape. So many local hearing careprofessionals have supported this initiative. I continue to beamazed by the generous support of our community, and we are thrilled to havethis service available for the Center’s 10th Anniversary Season.”

So what does a new hearing loop mean for theatergoers with hearing loss? T-coil compatible hearing loops workwith an individual’s hearing aids to create a fuller live performance experience.
“Imagine going to the theater and not being able to understand thedialogue,” saidDr. JuliëtteSterkens, a local audiologist with Fox Valley Hearing Center, Inc.and the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) hearing loop advocate. Sterkens hasbeen involved with the Center’s accessibility committee since 2009 and played a key role in raising awareness of the T-coil hearing loopsystem and its potential to aid theatergoers with hearingloss. 
“A common misconception," said Sterkens, "is that hearing aids restore normalhearing. Yes, hearing aids have greatly improved in the last decade, but theysimply cannot overcome typical distances involved in theaters such as theFox Cities P.A.C.” Sterkens explained that often, with hearing aids alone,sound becomes unclear in larger venues where speakers may beplaced at a distance or the surroundings are noisy.

On Friday, August 17 and Saturday, August 18, the public is invited to test theCenter’snew T-coil compatible hearing loop during a free 10th Anniversary Open House. The Center will offer apresentation on Friday at 4:00 p.m. in the Kimberly-Clark Theater which is alsofitted with a T-coil compatible hearing loop. Festivities will include liveentertainment, backstage tours, theater workshops and activities for allages. A full schedule of events, including a Founders’ Panel discussion onFriday in Thrivent Financial Hall and a MAMMA MIA! CommunityFlash Mob on Saturday, can be found at foxcitiespac.com/ten.
The new T-coil hearing loop replaces the Center’s infrared listening system.Visitors in need of hearing assistance or whose hearing instruments are not T-coilequipped may check out complimentary lightweight headsets for hearingamplification at the Center’s  information desk. Ticket agents are alsoavailable to answer questions about the Center’s hearing loop during regularbusiness hours, in person at the Center’s ticket office or by phoneat (920) 730-3760.
To learn more about the Center's new T-coil compatible hearing loop and other accessibility services, visit foxcitiespac.com.

Video: MAMMA MIA! Community Flash Mob

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Nearly2,000 people attended the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center’s10th Anniversary Open House last weekend to celebratethe Center’s first decade ofperformances and kick off the 10thAnniversary Season with live entertainment from localarts groups, backstage tours, theater workshops and activities for all ages. 
On Friday, Appleton's Mayor Tim Hanna proclaimed it Fox Cities P.A.C. Day before a Founders’ PanelDiscussion detailing how the dream of the Fox Cities P.A.C. became a reality.On Saturday, guests participated in a MAMMA MIA! Community Flash Mobchoreographed by Richard’s School ofthe Dance. 


SEE IT AGAINBased on the popularity of the MAMMA MIA! Community FlashMob at the Open House, organizers are planning an encore priorto the Friday, August 24 performance of MAMMA MIA! Ticket holdersshould arrive by 6:45 p.m. to watch or participate in the flash mob. For detailed instruction, Visit youtube.com/foxcitiespac to learn the steps!
PLAYING NOW - MAMMA MIA! MAMMA MIA! will be at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center August21-26. Tickets for MAMMA MIA! start at $54 and are on sale now.Tickets may be purchased at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center’s ticketoffice and online at foxcitiespac.com.To charge tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787.

Coloring the World Blue: The History of Blue Man Group

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Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton and Chris Wink are entrepreneurs who created and oversee a global enterprise that has brought joy to more than 17 million people. They are also innovators, educators, artists, and contemporary comedians, known collectively as the founders and originators of Blue Man Group. That these three bald and blue characters would become a cultural phenomenon – let alone the foundation for a most dynamic and successful artistic organization – is an idea that was all but unimaginable when these inscrutable beings first emerged, walking the streets of New York.
“We weren’t really goal-oriented,” says Stanton. “When we started walking around the city, we did it because we wanted to see how people reacted. And being bald and blue was our social life. We didn’t want to go to bars and be part of a singles scene, a drinking scene. We wanted our social life to be somehow creative, and this was a lot of fun. We knew we would eventually do some kind of performance, but we never envisioned a commercial theater run.”            

Photo Credit: (c)Paul Kolnik

Blue Man Group’s wildly popular, always evolving theater piece has been a mainstay in New York, Boston and Chicago for years. Now touring the country for the first time, there are also productions in Las Vegas and Orlando, and there are or have been productions in Tokyo and numerous European cities.
The show is an absurd and wondrous blend of music, painting, science and technology, as the Blue Men silently engage in a variety of set pieces that run the gamut from primitive and childlike to witty and sophisticated. And the character has been the springboard for numerous additional ventures, including a rock tour, a museum exhibition, a 3D movie and a school.
“It’s all about creativity and innovation,” says Puck Quinn, creative director of character development and appearances. “If someone asks, ‘What does Blue Man Group do?,’ my answer is simple: ‘We innovate.’”
Everything begins with the Blue Man, and although he’s been around for more than two decades, his founders still can’t entirely explain where he came from. Like the character himself, his origin is enigmatic.
“There really isn’t an explanation,” says Goldman. “Chris dug up a picture that he drew when he was five years old, and it had three blue men in it. And I had a thing in my wallet for years with a blue tribe in South America. I don’t know why it was there; I never put pictures in my wallet. We think the Blue Man has always been here. The best answer is that we found each other.”
The impulse for going bald and blue emerged, in part, when the three longtime friends observed a clash of cultures on a New York sidewalk that no one else noticed.
“We saw three punk rockers – giant Mohawks, safety pins in the cheekbone area, leather and chains – walk between three other gentlemen who were dressed in Armani suits and carrying alligator briefcases,” says Goldman. “These six guys didn’t even blink, and the people around them didn’t even blink. And we turned to each other and said, ‘If that scene didn’t even get one iota of consciousness put to it, what human imagery possibly could?'”
Eventually, an image began to emerge.
“We thought, ‘What would surprise people?'” says Stanton. “‘What’s going to catch someone’s eye and make them think?’ We thought that if we created a bald and blue character, that image would have the ability to surprise and spark some thought for a long time.”            Goldman adds, “The first time we got bald and blue, we knew instantly it was something very special. And it was so freeing, because it wasn’t us. Our own egos were gone.”
Eager to see an end to the 1980s, they carried around a coffin and staged a “Funeral for the ’80s” in Central Park – two years before the decade ended.
“We also walked around the streets or into bars; we were really interested in being a little provocative,” Goldman said.
The traits of the Blue Man developed gradually.
“There was something about him that seemed timeless, and something that seemed a little bit futuristic,” says Stanton. “He seemed to have the ability to be beautiful and comic at the same time. I’m not even sure we thought about that at first. It was really intuitive. We were trying to create a character that somehow represented humanity, but was able to be outside of humanity and look at it at the same time. We wanted to make a statement about community, about the power of a group, as opposed to the American individualist mentality. We thought the character would express community through something tribal, and drumming seemed the way to go. Chris had trained as a drummer, and I was from a really musical background. We wanted to draw from our own interests and backgrounds, and bring them into some kind of performance. We wanted to express something about the process, or the impulse to create.”
They built drums and instruments made of polyvinyl chloride – or PVC – pipes. They caught thrown objects with their mouths, and learned how to make things squirt out of their chests. Not all their experiments were successful. “We tried these hats that had tape recorders in them,” says Goldman. “They were called ‘Read Your Mind’ hats.” An acquaintance complimented them for their bravery.            They continued to develop material for three years, performing in downtown clubs and event spaces.
“We wanted to do work that had never been seen onstage before,” says Goldman.
Their shows were fresh and funny, exhilarating and experimental, but they were uncertain how long they could continue; they often paid out more than they took in on a gig. But in 1991, they were invited to perform at La MaMa, the prestigious off-off-Broadway theater. The show created a buzz, and that summer Blue Man Group took part in Lincoln Center’s Serious Fun Festival. In the fall they moved off-Broadway to the Astor Place Theater, where they remain to this day.
Two decades later, Goldman, Stanton and Wink are still tinkering with, refining, and updating the show. Each additional production, including the tour, provides an opportunity for new material, and even the New York show is refreshed from time to time.
“Sometimes we just see something that we think is really cool, and we’ll try and see how we can make it theatrical,” says Stanton.
The success of the show has enabled Blue Man Group’s founders to do what they most enjoy: innovate, create, and inspire. Among their many enterprises are CDs and DVDs; toy development; and the Megastar World Tour, their take on what a rock concert should be.
“It plays around with all the trappings of the big arena concert,” says Quinn, “All the things we do that we don’t even think about – waving your hands in the air and bopping your head and dancing in your seat. We’re poking fun at all those little actions. But at the same time, we’re trying to put on the best rock concert there is, with all the stuff we want to see.”
A 3-D movie, scheduled to premiere in 2011, is a 3-D live-action comedy, in which the Blue Men journey through the human brain.
“We avoided the movie genre for years, because we’re live performers,” says Quinn. “But 3-D movies are really interesting to us. We’re about visceral experiences, about breaking the fourth wall and reaching across the plane and touching people. That’s what we want to do with this film.”
With the Boston Children’s Museum and JBL they developed an interactive exhibition called "Making Waves," which is touring the country.
“We wanted to create something that would be as close to letting kids up onstage as possible,” says Quinn. “What we’re really doing is discussing sound waves, and how sound works. The exhibition deals primarily with sound and music.”            Perhaps their most ambitious and far-reaching endeavor is the Blue School, a charter school for children ages 2 to 7.
“Several things went into starting a school,” says Stanton. “There was the fact that we were having children, and we wanted to create a great place for them to learn. We see a real need to change education to include things like our relationships and our emotional life, and understanding how the brain works. We want to be part of the national and international dialogue. From the very beginning, there’s been an education element in our theatrical show. We’ve tried to find ways to make science theatrical. And I think that if you look at the Blue Man character, there’s a nice continuity there. The Blue Man is a learner. He’s always trying to figure something out, or to learn something about us, or about technology. He’s always trying to express something about the creative impulse. And that’s what the goals of the school are: to help create healthy and strong relationships and community, to help us to continue to be excited and have fun learning, to bring creativity to everything. And we’re not just talking about painting and music and the lively arts. We’re talking about business. We’re living in a world where we have to educate people very differently than we have in the past.”
Blue Man Productions, the parent company that oversees all projects, employs several hundred people around the world. Goldman, Stanton, Wink and their staff pay the same attention to the details of their business as they do to the details of their art.
“From the beginning, we valued what went on offstage as much as what went on onstage,” says Stanton. “It’s important to us how people are treated. The creativity that goes into what happens offstage is viewed as part of what ends up onstage. We never separate the two. We always wanted to own our own show, and live with the decisions that we made, rather than hand all of that off to somebody else. We want to be responsible for what happens, and we wanted to make sure it was a life-long journey.”

Blue Man Group will be making the fall more colorful that usual at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center October 9-14, and tickets are on sale now. For details, visit foxcitiespac.com today!

(c) 2010 Blue Man Group

Celebrating 10 Years of Adventures in Arts Education

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It's back to school this week for most students in grades PreK-12, and at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, we're getting ready for another fantastic year as Northeast Wisconsin's largest classroom for the performing arts!

This year, the Bemis Company Education Series celebrates 10 years of adventures in learning with titles like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, ImaginOcean and Walk On: The Story of Rosa Parks.
 

John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean (Grades PreK-2) November 1, 2012

Has your son or daughter's class been to the Fox Cities P.A.C.? More than 217,000 students have experienced the Center's special daytime performances, and now is a great time to share the 2012/13 Bemis Company Education Series brochure with your child's teacher.  
Tickets are only $5-$7, and a special scholarship fund is available for classes who need a helping hand to attend. For more information, educators can visit foxcitiespac.com/educators or call the Center's group sales department at (920) 730-3786 to make classroom reservations.

Club Swing – Where the Music’s Hot and the Legend Lives Forever

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The Boldt Arts Alive! Series gets underway Thursday, October 4 for the 2012/13 Season with a Big Band bang featuring Five By Design's Club Swing. It’s a flashback to the days of legendary landmarks like The Stork Club and The Copa, following the rise and fall of the Big Band Era from 1937 to 1955. With period costumes and velvet vocals, it’s like the cast stepped right out of The Cocoanut Grove.
Many people in the audience will remember hearing hits like “Cocktails for Two,” “Mona Lisa” and “Sing, Sing, Sing” from their younger years, but if you didn’t grow up with the music, how can you be sure you’ll enjoy Club Swing?
Well, there’s a reason the music lives on! If you have enjoyed the music of In the Mood and The Glenn Miller Orchestra or the nostalgia of Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s South Pacific or Million Dollar Quartet, you’ll love Five By Design’s Club Swing.


With tickets starting at just $20, take a trip back in time with Five By Design’s Club Swing — where the music’s hot, the drinks are cool and the legend lives forever.

Peek Disability in Media Award Event for Carrie Fisher @ Utah Film Center (September 26th)

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CARRIE FISHER IN UTAH TOHONOR THE LEGACY OF THE REAL RAIN MANFISHER NAMED SECONDRECIPIENT OF PEEK DISABILITY IN MEDIA AWARD
Salt Lake City, Utah - Following the first sold-out Evening withTemple Grandin, the Utah Film Center will honor renowned actressand author Carrie Fisher with this year's Peek Award for Disabilityin Media.According to the 2011 Annual Reportfrom the Utah Department of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, close to 200,000people in Utah suffer from mental illness (approximately 7% of Utah´spopulation) and only about 24% ofthose afflicted have received treatment. Carrie Fisher´s visit to thestate in celebration of the life and impact of the real Rain Man, Salt LakeCity native Kim Peek, promises to be a deeply impactful and personalexperience.The Utah Film Center together withgenerous support from the Utah Autism Foundation and other community partnershave joined forces to present an Evening with Carrie Fisher to increasingcommunity awareness about disability, particularly mental illness, and thecritical role that media can play in promoting understanding and acceptance.While upwards of 54 million Americans are estimated to have some kind of mentaldisorder each year, only about eight million of those seek help, and the fearand shame they experience can often lead to tragic ends.The event will take place on Friday,November 9, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center with Barry Morrow, theAcademy Award®-winning screenwriter of Rain Man, presenting the Peek Awardto Ms. Fisher as he permanently loaning his Oscar® statuette for thepeople of Salt Lake City to enjoy through the Utah Film Center, in celebrationof the legacy of Kim Peek, who served as the inspiration for the film Rain Man.Ms. Fisher will give an exciting keynote address followed by an on-stageinterview with KUER  RadioWest's host Doug Fabrizio. The evening willbe emceed by journalist Carole Mikita.Prior to the keynote event, we willhold an elegant reception with Ms. Fisher for VIP ticket holders and sponsorsat Valter´s Osteria. Ms. Fisher will also be in the lobby after the keynote toparticipate in a book signing for all ticket holders.The Peek Award will annually honor anactor, filmmaker, or subject of a film who is positively impacting oursociety's perception of persons with disabilities. As well as inspiring thosesuffering from mental illness to seek treatment, Ms. Fisher serves as anexample that each person is more than their disability and it is possible tolead a "normal" life and even achieve great personal and professional success.Diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder,actress and author Carrie Fisher has struggled with manic depression all of herlife, braving national scrutiny to share her story and provide inspiration toothers who also suffer from mental illness. Ms. Fisher has advocated fordecades to increase education, awareness, and research about mental illness, aswell as to dispel the stigma surrounding this type of affliction. Through herincredible creativity, candor, and wit, Ms. Fisher is able to use humor tobring awareness to this serious issue and help others decide to seek treatmentand speak out.Tickets are $50 per person, $45 forUtah Film Center Members, and VIP.Tickets including the pre-receptionwith Ms. Fisher are $150. Tickets will go on saleSeptember 26 through ArtTix at www.arttix.org.More details about all of ourupcoming events and membership can be found at UtahFilmCenter.org, Twitter @UtahFilmCenter and Facebook www.facebook.com/Utah-Film-Center

Jonathan Horowitz’s Your Land/My Land: Election ’12 @ UMOCA (Various locations, October 5-November 24)

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UMOCA Presents Jonathan Horowitz’s Your Land/My Land: Election ’12
Oct. 5-Nov. 24, 2012
Salt Lake City – The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art joins the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the New Museum in New York, and other museums across the United States to present Jonathan Horowitz’s Your Land/My Land: Election ’12—a special exhibition coinciding with the 2012 American Presidential election.
Your Land/My Land: Election ’12 is a reimagined installation originally presented by Horowitz during the 2008 presidential election. At each location (as in ’08), red and blue area rugs will divide the exhibition space into opposing zones, reflecting America’s color-coded, political, and cultural divide. Back-to-back monitors will be suspended between the carpets, with one broadcasting a live feed of Fox News, the other of MSNBC. The lyrics of This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie, which originally addressed the issue of land ownership, will be applied to the wall.
The space created by Horowitz will provide a location for people to gather and watch coverage of as well as talk about the presidential election. The installation’s central trope is a divided United States swathed in only red and blue.
“It’s an unprecedented opportunity to align contemporary art institutions in such a synchronized manner,” said Aaron Moulton, senior curator at UMOCA. “This exhibition manages to represent our political system and our country in a way that is both ironically balanced and unnervingly accurate. It gives new agency to art museums as an active space to create dialogue with our visitorship through an event that so profoundly affects us all.”
According to Horowitz, “If race and gender were the defining themes of the ’08 election, economic policy and economic disparity will likely be the defining themes of the 2012 election. The placement of the lyrics will extend this metaphor to the land of the museum and the land outside. To some, museums are decidedly blue—elitist bastions of liberalism—to others, they are lynchpins of a capitalist art market analogous to other capitalist markets that have been collapsing around us.”
When Your Land/My Land opens, a portrait of President Obama, as the current representative of all Americans, will hang from the ceiling between the two sides and a portrait of Mitt Romney will sit on the floor. On election night, each venue will host an election returns event, with the installation becoming a minimalist backdrop. If Obama wins, the position of the two portraits will remain the same. Should Obama be unseated, their positions will be switched.
Special events: UMOCA will extend its hours for viewers to experience the vice presidential debate and election night in the museum (Oct. 11, 7-9 p.m. and Nov. 6, 7 p.m.-TBD).
Participating venues include:Contemporary Art Museum: St Louis, MO – Sept.7–Nov. 11Contemporary Art Museum: Raleigh, NC – Sept. 22–Nov. 13Contemporary Arts Museum: Houston, TX - late Sept.–Nov. 11Hammer Museum: Los Angeles, CA – late Sept. – late Nov.Utah Museum of Contemporary Art: Salt Lake City, UT – Oct. 5–Nov. 24 New Museum: New York City, NY – Oct. 10- Nov. 18Telfair Museums: Savannah, GA – Oct. 5–Nov. 18Jonathon Horowitz is participating in the group exhibition, Battleground States, also opening at UMOCA on Oct. 5, 2012. The two exhibition openings will occur during UMOCA’s monthly First Friday series on Oct. 5, 8-10 p.m. with DJ Street Jesus, food, and a cash bar.
About the ArtistSince the early 1990’s, Horowitz has made art that combines the imagery and ambivalence of Pop Art with the engaged criticality of conceptualism. Often based on popular commercial sources, his work examines the deep-seated links between consumerism and political consciousness, as well as the political silences of postwar art. Recent solo exhibitions include “Minimalist Works from the Holocaust Museum,” Dundee Contemporary Arts, Scotland (2010), “Apocalypto Now,” Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2009), and the retrospective exhibition, “And/Or,” P.S.1, New York (2009).
About UMOCA
The award-winning Utah Museum of Contemporary Art exhibits groundbreaking artwork by local, national, and international artists. Five gallery spaces provide an opportunity for the community to explore the contemporary cultural landscape through UMOCA’s exhibitions, films, events, classes, and presentations.
Founded in 1931, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art has been recognized as Best Museum in the State of Utah for 2011 and 2012 and is a four-time recipient of funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
Located at 20 S. West Temple; open Tuesday-Thursday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Friday: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Saturday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. Admission is free. For more information call (801) 328-4201 or visit www.utahmoca.org.

'Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism" @ Utah Museum of Fine Arts

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Dale Nichols: Transcending RegionalismNew Exhibition Opening at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts


Dale Nichols,January, 1935, oil on canvas, courtesy the Williams College Museum of Art
Salt Lake City, UT – The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is pleased to present Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism,a retrospective exhibition of paintings by American illustrator and painter Dale Nichols (1904-1995). The exhibition will be on view from September 28, 2012 to March 18, 2013 in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building at the University of Utah.
Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism comes to the UMFA from The Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art in David City, Nebraska, where it was originally organized by Amanda Mobley Guenther. The exhibition was re-imagined for the UMFA by Donna Poulton, curator of the art of Utah and the West, and will showcase more than twenty works spanning much of the artist’s long career.
Dale Nicholsis regarded as one of the four major American Regionalist artists alongside Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry. The work of these four men, created in the Midwest during the Great Depression, defined a period when artists turned to nature and everyday scenes to create a uniquely American style of art.
Raised on a rural farm in Nebraska, Nichols spent most of his career creating stylized paintings of familiar landscapes and scenes from his youth: red barns, deep snow, and farmers hard at work. Many of Nichols’ works on view in Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism honor the agrarian ideal, and provided an image of hope for a struggling nation.
Nichols received art instruction at the Arts Institute of Chicago and gained early recognition for his magazine cover illustrations inHouse and Garden and The Saturday Evening Post. During the 1920s and 1930s, Nichols worked as a professor and became the Carnegie Professor in Art at the University of Illinois. In the 1940s he indulged his wanderlust by traveling repeatedly to Alaska and spending extended periods of time in Guatemala and Mexico. Visitors toDale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism will have the opportunity to experience paintings from each of these periods.
“Nichols' stylized paintings of agrarian themes capture a mood and time that is neither sentimental nor nostalgic,” says Donna Poulton, UMFA curator of the art of Utah and the West. “He portrays the real work of farmers and their environment in twentieth century America.”
Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism is generously sponsored by the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation; the Ray, Quinney & Nebeker Foundation; and the UMFA Special Exhibitions Council.For more information about this exhibition and others coming to the UMFA this fall, visitwww.umfa.utah.edu.

"Embark" Repertory Dance Theatre (Jeanne Wagner Theatre, October 4-6th)

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Embark October 4-6, 2012 | 7:30 pm Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center Jeanne Wagner Theatre Repertory Dance Theatre is honoring the ground-breaking revolutionaries...those who are daring, expanding, challenging, and re-defining dance with a three night performance of Embark, October 4-6, 2012 at 7:30 pm.With choreography ranging from the modern dance legends, Merce Cunningham and Michio Ito to new and inspiring work by the RDT dancers and local choreographers Jacque Bell & Barton Poulson, this concert will explore ideas of East/West cultures, the Avant Garde, and dance & technology. Pieces include: How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run by Merce Cunningham A lively, playful, athletic dance for 9 dancers, performed to a sound-score created by John Cage. The choreography keeps the dancers constantly in motion, never staying in a given place for very long, with two or three things simultaneously occurring on stage at all times. Bill Allred of X96's Radio from Hell and Ricklen Nobis of RDT will deliver the John Cage narrated sound-score live on stage, alongside the dancers. Selections from Michio Ito RDT spotlights the work of a unique Japanese artist, Michio Ito, one of a boundary-crossing generation that brought about the literary, musical and artistic breakthroughs of modernism, and the eclectic beginnings of American modern dance. Eight Seconds of Fame by the RDT Dancers & the community RDT embarked on a new project—creating choreography by incorporating movement phrases donated by the community. During the Utah Arts Festival, RDT invited people to contribute EIGHT SECONDS of movement to be put into a “movement bank.” Over 75 people (of all ages and abilities) shared their movement including pedestrian actions, gestures, shapes, or dance-moves that were part of their own movement language. As Merce Cunningham would have suggested, “human movement has limitless possibilities.” Hello World by Jacque Bell & Barton Poulson Hello World is an interdisciplinary, multimedia collaboration between a modem dance choreographer – Jacque Bell – and a social psychologist/data scientist – Barton Poulson. It uses dance and digital imagery to create visual and kinesthetic order and disorder. "Hello World" is a play on internal drives and external perceptions. *** Pre-Concert Lecture with Executive/Artistic Director, Linda Smith & Barton Poulson - free and open to the public! Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6 at 7:00 pm in the Rose Room (downstairs at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center) Click here to learn more TicketsTickets available through ArtTix 801-355-ARTS | www.arttix.org Community Night (October 4) full price tickets: $20* Tickets (Oct. 5-6): $30* Students/Seniors: $15*ticket price will increase $5 on the day of the show Tickets for groups of 10 or more: $20 each* Join the event on Facebook and invite your friends! Jeanne Wagner Theatre Repertory Dance Theatre is honoring the ground-breaking revolutionaries...those who are daring, expanding, challenging, and re-defining dance with a three night performance of Embark, October 4-6, 2012 at 7:30 pm.With choreography ranging from the modern dance legends, Merce Cunningham and Michio Ito to new and inspiring work by the RDT dancers and local choreographers Jacque Bell & Barton Poulson, this concert will explore ideas of East/West cultures, the Avant Garde, and dance & technology. Pieces include: How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run by Merce Cunningham A lively, playful, athletic dance for 9 dancers, performed to a sound-score created by John Cage. The choreography keeps the dancers constantly in motion, never staying in a given place for very long, with two or three things simultaneously occurring on stage at all times. Bill Allred of X96's Radio from Hell and Ricklen Nobis of RDT will deliver the John Cage narrated sound-score live on stage, alongside the dancers. Selections from Michio Ito RDT spotlights the work of a unique Japanese artist, Michio Ito, one of a boundary-crossing generation that brought about the literary, musical and artistic breakthroughs of modernism, and the eclectic beginnings of American modern dance. Eight Seconds of Fame by the RDT Dancers & the community RDT embarked on a new project—creating choreography by incorporating movement phrases donated by the community. During the Utah Arts Festival, RDT invited people to contribute EIGHT SECONDS of movement to be put into a “movement bank.” Over 75 people (of all ages and abilities) shared their movement including pedestrian actions, gestures, shapes, or dance-moves that were part of their own movement language. As Merce Cunningham would have suggested, “human movement has limitless possibilities.” Hello World by Jacque Bell & Barton Poulson Hello World is an interdisciplinary, multimedia collaboration between a modem dance choreographer – Jacque Bell – and a social psychologist/data scientist – Barton Poulson. It uses dance and digital imagery to create visual and kinesthetic order and disorder. "Hello World" is a play on internal drives and external perceptions. *** Pre-Concert Lecture with Executive/Artistic Director, Linda Smith & Barton Poulson - free and open to the public! Friday, October 5 and Saturday, October 6 at 7:00 pm in the Rose Room (downstairs at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center) Click here to learn more

TicketsTickets available through ArtTix 801-355-ARTS | www.arttix.org Community Night (October 4) full price tickets: $20* Tickets (Oct. 5-6): $30* Students/Seniors: $15*ticket price will increase $5 on the day of the show Tickets for groups of 10 or more: $20 each*

Join the event on Facebook and invite your friends!

Kathleen Cahill, "Charm" playwright, in a post play discussion @ Weber State University Department of Performing Arts (Eccles Theater, October 11)

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Meet the Playwright

Who:                Weber State University Department of Performing Arts
What:        Kathleen Cahill, "Charm" playwright, in a post play discussion
When:        October 11 o immediately following the production of "Charm" (begins at 7:30)
Where:        Eccles Theater, Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts

Weber State University Department of the Performing Arts will be holding a post-play discussion with the playwright, Kathleen Cahill, immediately following the production of her play, "Charm," Thursday, October 11, in the Eccles Theater. Audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions of Cahill; the director, Tracy Callahan; as well as members of the cast.

Kathleen Cahill has been a playwright in residence at Salt Lake Acting Company for the last two years and the team has produced very exciting new works.  Her play, "Charm," premiered at SLAC in 2010 and also won the Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award. A New England transplant, Cahill now lives in Salt Lake City.

A study guide for this production is available. Email crjennings@weber.edu for a .pdf

5 Things

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5 Things I'm Loving Right Now...
1. Baby Legs for my Baby Gurl
2. The weather!  It's amazing when it isn't 100 degrees every day.
3. Hot chocolate made with milk.  I drink a cup almost every night.
4. Decorating.  This is shocking to me because usually it overwhelms me.  To the point of indecision.  But I have been having a blast making over T's BBR and Baby Gurl's nursery.  Several friends are probably sick to death of me talking about it, showing them pictures from Etsy, Target, Land of Nod, Picket Fences, Pottery Barn Kids...  Making 'inspiration boards' to put my thoughts down.  I actually started buying furniture this week for the nursery!  Yippee!  I'm sure it'll be months before either room is really 'ready' but I'm excited!
5. My husband who told me he didn't care what Baby Gurl's nursery cost - all because she will be his baby gurl.  Swoon.  And ka-ching!
5 Things I'm Loathing Right Now...
1. How my house looks and knowing I have to pick it up tomorrow for our cleaning lady {that sounds super whiny given I have a cleaning lady, ha}.
2. How much it costs to accomplish #4 above to suit my 'vision'.  {Although #5 helps!}
3. My blasted work inspections.  1 is complete and was a success!  1 is d.r.a.g.g.i.n.g.  I started 8/13, and we aren't done yet.
4. How I get almost NO comments anymore.  I guess my blog is boring.  {Brent said so just the other day.  Maybe I take back #5 above.}
5. How sore my feet and back are at the end of the day.  I love being pregnant, but I could do without the achiness.

Mary Poppins on Broadway

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I do not understand why people rave about Disney on Broadway. Case in point, Mary Poppins has received ridiculously good reviews, but having seen it last night, color me unimpressed. Let me start by saying that the Disney movie Mary Poppins is a childhood favorite, which means I am predisposed to dislike any kind of remake. In truth, though, the Broadway remake suffers from weak, amateurish direction like the very worst of community theater.
First, let me acknowledge that the cast was supremely talented. It is impossible to hear such classic songs as "Spoonful of Sugar," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," and "Chim Chim Cheree" without hear Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Unfortunately, as talented as the cast was, they were only a shadow of Andrews and Van Dyke. So why remake it, other than to make money off of the tourist who visit NYC but don't know theatre.
In addition to the talented cast, the set was brilliant, nothing less than what you would expect from Disney. I also liked the addition of Mr. Banks' nanny Miss Andrew and her wicked number "Brimstone and Treacle." Because she is only on stage for a few minutes, Nanny Andrew can be a two-dimensional character. The problem is every character is two-dimensional. They are all over-the-top in their performances, like the director decided since he could not have the cartoon segments from the movie, he would turn the entire performance into a cartoon.
Mrs. Corry, Neleus, the Bank Chairman, Admiral Boom, even the Banks family themselves are really flat characters with no depth. Bert and Mary are hardly any more developed. On the flat screen of movies and television, this works, but on stage it's a disaster. Changing the order of the songs and adding new music does nothing for developing the characters, and this is what is missing. To make this work on Broadway, Mary Poppins needs to be more than the movie.
If ever there was a director with the experience to develop these characters, it should have been Richard Eyre of the Royal National Theatre. This is the guy who directed The Crucible on Broadway and the film Notes on a Scandal with Dame Judy Dench. Instead of exploring the emotional depth with humor and fun, Eyre give treacle with no brimstone.
On a final note, what should have been the show stopping climax, "Step in Time," proved only that tap is dead. Though the uninitiated crowd thought it was the greatest dance performance ever, I know better. I honestly think my high school musical theater troupe would have been far superior. At least I can still claim to never have paid to see Disney on Broadway.

JJ Abram's Super 8

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Hollywood has been incredibly disappointing for the last few years, or maybe I'm just getting old and jaded. Or both. JJ Abrams is one of the few bright spots left in Tinsel Town, and his latest effort, Super 8, brought me out to the movies again.
Take a father-son relationship story, fold in first love and a coming of age tale, and top off with an angry alien that just wants to go home and you have a quality summer outing. Abrams is a story-teller, and this semi-autobiographical yarn recalls the innocence of youth, the purity of love, the joy of friendship, and all that we risk losing once we grow up.
Set in the summer of 1979, Super 8 is the story of five friend making a zombie movie. Charles (the Abrams character played by Riley Griffiths) is the writer and director; Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is his best friend special effects and make up guru; Carey (Ryan Lee), Martin (Gabriel Basso), and Preston (Zach Mills) round out the main gang. The introduction of Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning) as the wife of the detective changes everything. When they sneak out to film a scene and unexpectedly witness a train crash, their lives will never be the same.

Best of all are the performances of the young actors. Ryan Lee was my favorite, probably because he reminded me of so many of my students from my teaching days. He's the kid with the energy to make the battery powered bunny look lazy. His infatuation with fireworks, guns, and cars is the very definition of boy-ness. Its just one example of Abrams' deft touch with his writer's pen.
Super 8 is part ET, part Stand By Me, part Goonies, and all fun. Bring the kids or leave them at home, either way you're sure to enjoy the show.

The Bazaar by Jose Andres

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In addition to introducing tapas culture to America, Chef Jose Andres is a practitioner of what is best about molecular gastronomy a la Ferran Adria. He was included in Time's 2012 list of 100 Most Influential People in the World, and is the creative genius behind Think Food Group. I have been a fan of Andres' cooking for a few years now, having sampled several of his DC restaurants, including the recently closed Cafe Atlantico (soon to be reopened as America Eats Tavern), Jaleo, Zaytinya (Greek), and Oyamel (Mexican). I never was able to get a reservation to Mini Bar, Andres' most innovative and experimental cooking. 
This past week, I was able to finally sample some of Mini Bar's famous recipes at one of Andres' newest endeavors. Housed at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, The Bazaar by Jose Andres offers both traditional and modern tapas in a chic atmosphere that is fun and convivial while remaining very food-centric.

Tortilla de patatas--potato foam, 63 degree poach egg, and caramelized onions.

Cotton Candy Foie Gras

English Peas with Iberico Ham

Watermelon and Tomato Skewers

Oxtail Steamed Bun with jalapeno and watermelon radish

Philly Cheese Steak--Wagyu Beef, Air Bread, Cheddar Sauce inside the bread

Ottoman Carrot Fritters with Apricots and Pistachio Sauce

Gazpacho estilo Algeciras with tomato, cucumber, air bread, and Sherry vingar

The Ultimate Tapas--tuna belly, hard boiled eggs, peas, and potatoes

Chocolate Flan with Brioche Ice Cream, Caramelized Bread and Olive Oil

Honestly, I loved everything. Funny, though, when the waitress who took me to the patisserie for dessert (a separate room filled like an old fashioned candy and bake shop) asked what my favorite was, I told her it was the peas with Iberico ham. She had never heard such as answer, but it was true. The peas were salty and sweet, perfectly complemented by the Iberico ham. The cotton candy foie was a delight, and the gazpacho had such a hit of Sherry vinegar it drew me back again and again. The Philly cheese steak was incredibly delicate, reducing the down to two incredible bites what Pat's and Gino's and Tony Luke's have spent decades perfecting. The deconstructed and reconstructed tortilla was amazing, and I could have eaten several. Having cooked many a tortilla myself, this was the very essence, recreated based on science.
The oxtail buns packed beefy flavor into a tiny package, and the watermelon and tomato skewers again played with the sweet and savory aspects. The Ottoman carrot fritters, heavily spices with traditional Moroccan flavors and filled with carrot, were different and possibly my least favorite, though only based on my taste not the quality of the food. I loved the tuna and potato salad with the house made mayo that comprised the "ultimate tapas." It was a case of quality ingredients and the alchemy that makes something greater than the sum of its parts. Dessert was thoroughly enjoyable; the chocolate and olive oil combination with bread is a favorite from Andres' childhood, redeployed in a new form.
Frugal diners need not visit The Bazaar, but those who love Spanish cuisine or just love creative cooking, ought to give it a try. Treat it as a special occasion and enjoy how Andres and his staff play with flavors like no one else.

Civics Education Today

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Recently I was asked to write an article on civic education for the American Bar Association, to be published in The Judges Journal. Thanks to my work as Vice President of Education for Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and my role as Pennsylvania State Coordinator of We the People and Project Citizen, I spend much of my life looking at the state of civic and citizenship education. Providing education programs that supplement that which schools are less able to provide is an worthy endeavor, and this article attempts to celebrate the important work non-profits are doing to train young people to be active, engaged citizens in our democracy.
Check out the article, "Civics Education Today: Citizens for the 21st Century"

Finding Nemo - An Adventure in Parenting

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Patty and I took the boys to see Finding Nemo last weekend. I saw this in the theater in college and have always thought it was such a cute movie. I knew it'd be a hit with the boys.
Excited but no clue what is going on. {grin}
Ready to go with popcorn
The boys enjoyed the movie, but Patty and I agreed their behavior deserved a C at best. They just didn't get the concept of being quiet and staying in their seats. The previews were SO long, T kept asking 'Is this my movie?' There was a preview for Monsters, Inc. which is coming back to theaters in December; Trent has seen parts of that movie and got mad when that wasn't the movie we were there to see - ha. He also got mad that I got him water to drink and started to pitch a fit. Both boys wandered a little bit in our row and the row in front of us. But given we were 4 of the 9 people in the theater, I don't think they were TOO disruptive... What's funny to me is when we got in the car, T asked if he could watch a movie on my phone. Um, we just left the MOVIE THEATER! It was definitely an experience, and I won't complain if we hold off on another movie until Monsters, Inc. or later.

Baby Gurl Bumpdate - 26 Weeks

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Hello 26 weeks!  It dawned on me this week that I am 2 weeks away from the 3rd trimester.  How did that happen?  I cannot believe I am that close to the final stretch.  This trimester has flown by!




Weight Gain: Holding steady at not quite 20 pounds.  Whoo hoo!

Maternity Clothes: More and more... I'm confounded by how so many from my pregnancy with T don't fit. Shirts I wore all the way through my pregnancy with him are already getting too short. I really don't want to spend a lot of money on more maternity clothes, but I think I still need more. Old Navy is having a big sale right now, so I might try to get some staples to get me through a little longer.

Movement: Oh man, I have a dancer in there. Tuesday, I was wearing the same dress as I was when I made this video of T, and she was having a party I could see from the outside. Just reminded me of that moment with T, and I loved it.




Sleep: Still fabulous. Don't want to jinx myself, but I am not getting up much to go to the bathroom, and my head hits the pillow, and I'm out!

What I Miss: Sleeping on my stomach. Wine. Being able to sit up easily.

Cravings: I am obsessed with a My Fit Foods Lemon Pepper Turkey meal. I split it into 2 and add bell pepper, hominy and sometimes more asparagus. I think about it all the time. There are definitely worse things to crave though! I drink hot chocolate almost every night and look forward to that all day long. If there are sweets in the office, I have to take a nibble. I do a good job of it being a small nibble, but I have to have some!

Symptoms: Just the normal aches and pains. I was laughing at the gym this week because running is getting SO challenging but only because of Baby Gurl being on my bladder. I told Rhonda at one point that I thought my bladder went numb, so if I peed on myself to please ignore me. But darn it, I finished my run, and we both hit over 4 miles! It is hard to play on the floor with Trent, and I despise reading to him at night ONLY because it hurts so bad to get up after we're done.




Best Moment of the Week: Finalized my 'vision' for her nursery and starting to purchase furniture and odds & ends. I really think this is going to turn out adorable. If I can figure out a good way to show stuff, I'll do a 'sneak peak' soon.

Worst Moment of the Week: I really can't think of anything too bad. Tuesday I did a presentation at t.u. and by the time I was walking back to the parking garage, my feet hurt so bad I contemplated going barefoot...

Other Random Stuff: Y'all...all I think about is her nursery and T's BBR. Brent and I don't discuss names at all. I don't think for any particular reason other than nothing is coming up that either of us likes. Trent likes to play the drums on my belly. He has talked about wanting to breastfeed the baby and gets really disappointed when he hears he won't make milk. Too sweet. {And embarrassing for him when he's a teenager...tee hee hee}


Maybe starting to even out a little?  Or wishful thinking?  Ha!