Announcements

Los Angeles’ streets are famously devoid of pedestrian activity, but those driving or walking down Grand Avenue on a December evening may encounter the controlled chaos of an impromptu dance experience.

On Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15 and 16 at 8 p.m., 70 dancers from the California Institute of the Arts will present a massive ensemble performance on the steps and sidewalk surrounding the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles.

SCVNews.com:

CalArts Dancers Plan Massive ‘Impromptu’ Performance

ArtsChangeUS (Arts in a Changing America) and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) announce the release of the second edition of the groundbreaking anthology Contemporary Plays by Women of Color (Routledge Press, 2017), edited by ArtsChangeUS Director Roberta Uno.  

“The need for the voices in this anthology—and the voices of the vast diversity of the people of this country—is critical,” says editor Uno, “Women of color and our communities embody the transformational promise of a new America. The plays of this volume are evidence of this change—artistically brilliant, original, eclectic, and not simply relevant—they are written for a future that is already present in a demographically shifting America.”

Gathering some of theater’s leading artists—artists—including playwright, performer and CalArts faculty member Marissa Chibas, acclaimed actress and Tony Award-winning playwright Danai Gurira and Pulitzer Prize recipient Quiara Alegría Hudes, Contemporary Plays by Women of Color is a cornerstone in the conversation of diversity in the arts. Updated for the first time in two decades, the anthology preserves and ensures access to the significant and too-often unheard contributions from women of color in theater.

Each of the anthology’s 22 works shares a distinctive and fiercely independent perspective from a leading playwright in contemporary theater. From a cartel-wracked Texas border town to an early-aughts rebel camp in civil-war-torn Liberia, women in Contemporary Plays by Women of Color, protagonists and playwrights alike, navigate their relationships to each other, to their communities and their cultures, and to dominant historical narratives that have long hidden their voices.

Two events in Southern California will celebrate the book’s publication.

Uno and and Duende CalArts director Chibas, will host a launch event featuring staged readings from the book at the Autry Museum of the American West in in Los Angeles. The event takes place in the Autry’s Wells Fargo Theater on Sunday, December 10 at 2:00 p.m. and is part of their acclaimed Native Voices series. CalArts School of Theater students will read selections from plays including What Would Crazy Horse Do? by Larisa FastHorse, The Wong Street Journal by Kristina Wong, Dionna Michelle Daniel’s Gunshot Medley and Chibas’ Daughter of a Cuban Revolutionary.

“The writers in this anthology have been major sources of inspiration for me, and it is an honor to be included with them,” said Chibas. “Their voices are not heard enough in our culture. They call out to us, with great passion, skill, and strength, to see ourselves in our fullest hues. In these stories, we encounter communities who, all too often, have been shut out of the theater. At a moment when much is being discussed about our systems of exclusion, these plays offer a way forward by bringing to light voices that have frequently been silenced.”

CalArts’s Performing Arts Fellow Morgan Camper will host a second celebration with staged readings on the CalArts campus in Valencia on Thursday, December 7 at 4:30 p.m. Featuring anthology contributors and students from the CalArts School of Theater, readings are directed by multidisciplinary artist Manon Manavit, an MFA candidate in the Directing Program in CalArts’s School of Theater.

It may or may not be feasible to build an outdoor amphitheater in the Santa Clarita Valley, so the city is contracting a firm to find out.

At their meeting Tuesday, the council will award a contract for $59,640 to AEA Consulting to conduct a study to decipher where an amphitheater may fit and how much it might cost.

SCVSignal.com:

Santa Clarita Considers Likelihood of an Amphitheater

The College of the Canyons Jazz Ensemble ‘Just Jazz’ will be starting the New Year with a bang by heading to its first national convention. The award-winning ensemble will perform at the 9th annual Jazz Education Network (JEN) conference in Dallas, TX on Jan. 3-7, 2018.

The event represents the largest educational/performance conference in the global jazz community.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Julie Lawson, the ensemble’s director. “Being selected to be showcased at a national convention is overwhelming.”

‘Just Jazz’ was selected to perform based on a live recording Lawson submitted from a recent concert.

At the JEN conference, the vocal jazz ensemble band will perform a 50-minute set that will include a variety of tunes, such as songs composed by Al Jarreau, Thad Jones, Harry Connick Jr. and an Afro-Cuban arrangement of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Cecilia.”

Accompanied by Lawson, the team of 13 students will also travel with a professional rhythm section: Alex Nizzoli (piano), Emilio Terranova (bass) and Brijesh Pandya (drums).

‘Just Jazz’ has been a regular fixture at the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, which has selected the ensemble to perform six times in the past seven years.

“Monterey is a competitive festival and ‘Just Jazz’ has walked away with five awards over the years,” said Lawson.

Established by a group of jazz leaders in 2008, JEN was created to foster the jazz arts community through promoting performance, advancing education, and inspiring new audiences. Since then, JEN has grown to boast thousands of members across the nation and around the world.

“I’m so grateful for the ongoing support from Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook, my colleagues Lori Marie Rios and Dr. Bernardo Feldman, my Dean, Dr. Carmen Dominguez, and the Patrons of the Performing Arts,” said Lawson. “Without their encouragement and generosity, this trip wouldn’t be possible.”

Those who wish to make a donation toward the group’s trip to the JEN conference can do so through the COC Foundation.

Catch “Just Jazz” in action during “Jazz Tidings” at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8 in the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center lobby.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students/seniors and will be available for purchase at the door.