Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Arts Info Part 1 (11/10-11/12)

Tuesday November 10:
The monthly meeting of the Connecticut Songwriters Association takes place at 7:15 p.m. in Room B2B, South College at Wesleyan. Neeta Ragoonwansi (pictured), from the non-profit organization Sound Exchange, will talk on how the group collects and distribute performance royalties for digital cable, satellite, and Internet radio plays on behalf of recording artists and sound-recording copyright owners. The tak is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.ctsongs.com or call Grady Faulkner at 860-344-9395.

Wednesday November 11:
The Buttonwood Tree presents its monthly "Belly Dance: Evening Oasis" at 7:30 p.m. The event, hosted by Laura Lawton and Kitti Field, features dance trio of Desideria, Aziz Al-Tawil and Rasa Vitalia. For more information, call 860-347-4957.

Thursday November 12:
Lots of theater-related events begin or take place on this day. Earlier this week, there was a posting for "Juno & The Paycock", Sean O'Casey's 1924 play, presented by the Middletown- based Vintage Players (read here.) As a member of the troupe, I can say we are excited about this production for many reasons. Gerry Matthews plays "The Paycock" and his cousin Phelim Donlon is coming over from Ireland and has a small part. Performances are 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday. The production takes place in the main auditorium of Congregation Adath Israel, 8 Broad Street. For more information and reservations, call 860-347-1377 or 860-632-1067.

26 young actors takes the stage at Oddfellows Playhouse for 5 performances (11/12, 13, 14, 15, 20 & 21) of "Around The World in 80 Days." I know you've seen the postings of the creative fundraising events on this site and now the production is here. Many of us know Jules Verne's story about the intrepid world traveler Phileas Fogg's idea to circumnavigate the world with his trusty valet Passepartout (there's a bet involved.) John Hildreth's adaptation hews closely to the storyline and the troupe does a fine job showing the many different cultures and people they encounter along the way. The first night is the "can-can" preview at 7 p.m. when all tickets are “pay-what-you-can,” and audience members are asked to bring a canned or nonperishable food item for the Amazing Grace food pantry. All the other performances take place at 7:30 p.m. For more information and reservations, call 860-347-6143.

From the Wesleyan CFA: Rhodessa Jones is Co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco acclaimed performance company Cultural Odyssey. She is an actress, teacher, singer and writer. Jones is also the Founder and Director of the award winning "Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women", which is a performance workshop that is designed to achieve personal and social transformation with incarcerated women. She has lectured at the Getty Research Institute, Yale University, the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University and the San Francisco Academy of Art. Ms. Jones is speaking at 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall; she will talk about using art as a healing tool through her work with The Medea Project and perform some excerpts from her one-person shows around the theme of "art as social activism." For ticket information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call the Box Officeat 860-685-3355. To learn more about Rhodessa Jones, go to www.culturalodyssey.org/v2/aboutus/rhodessa_bio.html.

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