OUR FABULOUS CHRISMUKKAH CAROL: A HOLIDAY REWRITE

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Photo: Michael O’Connor of Classy Camera

Tag: Performing Arts

PORTRAITS: LIVE! With GE Smith & LeRoy Bell (7pm or 9pm)

Join us in the garden for exclusive LIVE performances, hosted by John Loeffler ( BMG Creative) to celebrate the release of GE Smith and LeRoy Bell’s new album Stony Hill. Among the hits to be played is the stirring new song, “America”. The track is a mellow blues tune that moves with a heavy groove and allows Smith to peel off plenty of intricate guitar licks. They will showcase a stripped-down acoustic set of their R&B, song collection and with Bell’s smart lyrics /Mass confusion, our constitution — they’re tryna burn it down,” or the Motown nod, “Let the Sunshine” They will leave you, without a doubt humming, their hooky tunes and wanting more!

Pre-order Stony Hill here: https://gesmithandleroybell.lnk.to/StonyHill

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

PORTRAITS: Streaming with GE Smith, LeRoy Bell, & Joseph Arthur

GE Smith presents PORTRAITS (streaming for the first time worldwide) featuring Joseph Arthur and LeRoy Bell; two very distinctly different singers. GE and LeRoy will serenade through some of their new songs to celebrate the release of their upcoming collaborative album, Stony Hill, out August 28th via BMG. Among the hits to be played is the stirring new song, “America”, revered by Rolling Stone as a gamechanger on the state of affairs. GE says, “you will witness an amazing singer, the one I’ve been looking for thirty years, and how we came to make this amazing project.” Joseph Arthur, who is known best for being discovered by Peter Gabriel, will open the show. Gabriel covered “In the Sun” for the album, Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute, which was a big vote of confidence for this wise, soulful, singer-songwriter and painter. Watch Arthur paint GE as they move through an evocative, textured, acoustic landscape. This blockbuster virtually streamed concert is a must-see.

Pre-order Stony Hill here: https://gesmithandleroybell.lnk.to/StonyHill

Play in the Backyard: Heisenberg by Simon Stephens

Directed by Austin Pendleton and starring Irene Glezos and Albert Insinnia

Amidst the bustle of a crowded London train station, Georgie spots Alex, a much older man, and plants a kiss on his neck. This electric encounter thrusts these two strangers into a fascinating and life-changing game. Tony Award winning playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) presents a refreshing look into just how unpredictable life can be, especially when examined closely! Directed by Tony Award-nominated and Drama Desk Award winner Austin Pendleton, this staged reading stars Broadway and TV veteran actors Irene Glezos and Albert Insinnia. “Quirky, lovely, funny, and powerful” – Associated Press.

Heisenberg is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

HEISENBERG was originally commissioned by the Manhattan Theatre Club, (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) and received its world premiere there on May 19, 2015.

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

Play in the Backyard: The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn starring Mercedes Ruehl and Harris Yulin

This winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which originally starred Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn and was later revived with Julie Harris and Charles Durning, uses a card game as a metaphor for life. Weller Martin is playing solitaire on the porch of a seedy nursing home. Enter Fonsia Dorsey, a prim, self-righteous lady. They discover they both dislike the home and enjoy gin rummy, so they begin to play and to reveal intimate details of their lives. Fonsia wins every time, and their secrets become weapons used against one another.

“Perfect […] A vibrant study on loneliness, disillusion, old age and death yet fiercely funny.” –The Boston Globe

“A thoroughly entertaining lesson in the fine art of theatrical finesse. The closest thing the theatre offers to a duel at 10 paces.” –The New York Times

“Extremely intelligent […] fine bittersweet comedy […] Funny, sad, profane, eloquent, touching, beautiful.” –WABC-TV

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

The Gin Game is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS OR STREAMS IN ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR(S)’S RIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

Play in the Backyard: Albert Camus’ The Fall – a dramatization by Alexis Lloyd starring Ronald Guttman

“You can never really prove anybody’s innocence, but you can be sure we’re all guilty. Every man bears witness to the crimes of all the others.”
—Jean-Baptiste Clamence, The Fall by Albert Camus

In Alexis Lloyd’s solo theatrical adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning French author Albert Camus’ The Fall, New York-based, Belgian-born actor Ronald Guttman takes on the role of anguished, exiled Parisian lawyer Jean-Baptiste Clamence, transporting his audience to the last circle of Hell: Amsterdam’s red-light district, circa 1956.  Related in casual conversation to an unexpected interlocutor and set against the backdrop of the Second World War, this adaptation of Camus’ last complete work of fiction invokes the fall of man from the Garden of Eden as it explores themes of culpability, shame and regret. Escaping the crowded streets awash in neon light at a bar called Mexico City, Clamence reveals, in the form of a 60-minute monologue, the outcome of an event whose moral uncertainty has transformed him into a judge-repentant and postmodern prophet of the human condition.  In this quiet and elegant presentation, the audience become his confessors, his mirror, and Clamence becomes theirs.  Ronald Guttman, a recognizable presence on stage, screen, and television whose credits include Mad Men, Homeland, and the current Amazon hit series Hunters with Al Pacino, has presented developmental readings of The Fall with Naked Angels, En Garde Arts, and as part of the “A Stranger in the City” Camus Festival celebrating the 70th anniversary of Camus’ singular post-war visit to New York.

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

Play in the Backyard: tenderly by Ida Esmaeili

A deeply heartfelt, sharply funny new play. Starring Ida Esmaeili and Nate Janis

Directed by Rebecca Miller Kratzer

When Will’s professor leads him to seek out Alina’s insight for his paper on Iran, he has no idea that he will meet the love of his life. However, Alina’s visa renewal gets denied early in their relationship and they have life-changing choices to make. Emerging playwright Ida Esmaeili’s deeply sincere, sharply funny new play examines whether marriage can be tainted, how immigration considerations can alter the course of families and relationships, and raises questions about the nature of identity and home.

Please note: the actors, Ida and Nate, have been quarantining together, so they are safe sharing the stage together.

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

Staged Reading: Africaville by Jeffrey Colvin, Directed by Andrina Smith

THIS SHOW IS SOLD OUT BUT WE WILL HAVE A LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS
CLICK THE “BUY TICKETS” LINK ABOVE TO REGISTER

 

Thank you for your interest the program PRESENT TENSE: BLACK LIVES MATTER(ED): Staged Reading: AFRICAVILLE by Jeffrey Colvin, Directed by Andrina Smith. 

For everyone’s safety it is necessary to limit our live audience size but will be sending information on how to be part of our events remotely. To be added to our virtual waiting room for information about all of the Present Tense livestream and recorded viewing invitations, please email our producer Christine Sciulli at AfricavillePresentTense@gmail.com

A dramatized reading from Jeffrey Colvin’s new novel Africaville, produced by Christine Sciulli and presented in partnership with The Church; Arts Center at Duck Creek; The East Hampton Star and Canio’s Books.  Through the lens of Africaville’s multigenerational historical novel set in parts of Canada and the southern United States spanning from 1780s to the 1990s, major themes such as Community Destruction, Police Brutality, Healthcare Inequity, Criminal Justice Reform, Protests and Passing as White bring new insight to our current efforts to combat structural racism.  Director Andrina Smith’s unique perspectives as a storyteller, a Shinnecock native, and a member of a multigenerational family legacy uniquely equips her to bring themes and scenes from Colvin’s novel to the stage. The cyclical nature with which our society revisits the ongoing racial structures of oppression occurs with devastating repetition. The echoes of our past resonate in the song of today and whether in directing, writing, sketch comedy, or performing, Smith explores the way in which that tune underscores our daily life.

About Africaville: Africaville  was awarded the Honor Fiction Prize by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Africaville has also been featured in Publishers Weekly, NPR, Vogue, the Boston Globe, the BBC, the CBC, The Globe and Mail, Lithub and elsewhere.

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

***THIS STAGED READING IS A PART OF A WEEKEND LONG EVENT – SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS***

PRESENT TENSE: BLACK LIVES MATTER(ED)

A Weekend of Theatre, Art, Literature, History and Activism centered around Jeffrey Colvin’s debut novel, Africaville. Co-sponsored by Guild Hall, The Church, Arts Center at Duck Creek, The East Hampton Star and Canio’s Books.

A small Nova Scotia town settled in the waning years of the eighteenth century by formerly enslaved people is the inspiration for Jeffrey Colvin’s rich and unforgettable debut novel, Africaville, which chronicles three generations of the Sebolt family—Kath Ella, her son Etienne, and her grandson Warner—whose lives unfold against the tumultuous events of the twentieth century. The sweeping, lyrical story filled with unforgettable characters, takes readers from Nova Scotia to Montreal, New England and the Deep South as it explores notions of identity, passing, cross-racial relationships, the importance of place, and the meaning of home. This powerful story of the black experience in parts of Canada and the United States, also offers insights into the outrage against racism and oppression that has sparked protests not only in America but around the world. This weekend of events August 15th and 16th  at venues including Guild Hall and Arts Center at Duck Creek on Long Island’s East End offers a unique opportunity to experience many of these insights. 

Purchase Africaville through Canio’s Books: https://bookshop.org/shop/caniosbooks

OUT OF THE LOOP
Saturday and Sunday, August 15th and 16th, 2-6 pm
Arts Center At Duck Creek 127 Squaw Rd, Springs, East Hampton, NY 11937
Free Event, Self Guided walk with Black Lives Matter(ed) representative available to answer questions

Installation by Jeffrey Colvin with sound design by Colvin and DJ Potts

We must move Out Of The Loop, repeating the same egregious injustices inflicted on Black communities–day after day, year after year, century after century. And we must move out of the loop of repeating the same ineffective responses.  We need new insights, but also a national will to do better. This installation—looping audio of media reports about racial injustices along with excerpts of Africaville invites the viewer to enter this conversation and carry away their own insights and desires for action.

AFRICAVILLE x PLAIN SIGHT PROJECT
Saturday, August 15th, 5 pm
VENUE TBA
This Free Event will take place OUTDOORS without a RAIN DATE. 

A recording will be posted on the Plain Sight Series page at www.duckcreekarts.org

Free copies of the book will be given to the first 15 RSVPs. Books can be collected onsite at the talk. 
Limited to 25 attendees. RSVP via email Jess Frost duckcreekarts@gmail.com 

Plain Sight Lecture Series with Guest Author Jeffrey Colvin

Donnamarie Barnes and David Rattray of the Plain Sight Project will be joined by author Jeffrey Colvin to discuss how his recent novel Africaville, relates to the stories of enslaved people on the East End of Long Island. Barnes, Rattray and Colvin will share their thoughts on how both his Out of the Loop installation at Duck Creek and their Plain Sight Project seek to support our “national will to do better.”

WRITING THE PAST TO RIGHT THE FUTURE
Sunday August 16 at 5pm
LOCATION TBA
Free Event, limited to 35 attendees 
Activist Panel 

Join us for a timely panel discussion with author Jeffrey Colvin and director Andrina Wekontash Smith. They will be joined by local cultural leader Bonnie Michelle Cannon and activist Willie Jenkins to discuss the pressing issues of our time and important themes in Colvin’s novel Africaville: namely social justice and the prison system, police brutality and social protest as well as the specific struggle of Black Communities in face of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Sister Poets: Reading by Kathy Engel and Jill Bialosky

Sister Poets read and converse about their new books that tread the fine line between grief, hope and love.  Jill Bialosky is the author of Asylum:  A Personal, Historical, Natural Inquiry in 103 Lyric sections and Kathy Engel is the author of The Lost Brother Alphabet.

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.

Surf Movie Night XVIII: A Benefit for Clean Water and Healthy Beaches

Virtual Screening and Online Auction in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation

Online Auction closes for bidding on Friday, August 14th @ 5PM

VIEW AUCTION

Surfrider Foundation Eastern Long Island Chapter is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s ocean, waves and beaches. The chapter has been a strong advocate of public access, environmental preservation and clean water from Montauk Point to East Quogue for over 20 years. Staffed by a dedicated team of volunteers, the grass roots chapter works with every level of government to resolve important coastal issues including shoreline preservation, sea level rise, beach access and water quality. In addition, dozens of beach cleanups and educational programs have been done with local students and community members to ensure clean water and healthy beaches for all! Proceeds from Surf Movie Night directly fund our Clean Water, Plastic Pollution, and Coastal Preservation programs and campaigns. Please help us continue to work for Clean Water & Healthy Beaches. 

Salieu Suso & World Music Collective (FREE LIVESTREAM)


THIS PROGRAM WILL BE STREAMED LIVE FROM OUR JOHN DREW BACKYARD THEATER

Salieu Suso – Kora and vocal  / Ebrima Jassey – balafon / Jimmy Mngwandi – bass / Claes Brondal- drums 

Salieu Suso was born into a family of musicians from Gambia, West Africa. At the age of 8, he was trained to play the West African Harp, the 21 stringed Kora. He is also recognized as a descendant of the originator of the instrument, JaliMady Wulayn Suso. He performed throughout Africa and Europe before coming to the U.S. where he freelances with other musicians today. Ebrima Jassey, born in Namibia, West Africa, and currently residing in the Bronx, plays the balafon, a wooden xylophone. He took up learning the instrument at the age of 9 and performs with his brothers at various restaurants and colleges. He also plays as a street performer. Jimmy Mngwandi got his musical start at age 11 playing bass on the streets of Bophelong Townsip in South Africa to help his single mother. Discovered playing a guitar fashioned out of an oil tin and wood, Mngwandi made his way to Johannesburg where he quickly made his name. Today, he is among South Africa’s most sought after bassists, writers and producers, He has performed with legends like Mirium Makeba, Hugh Masekela, saxophonist David Murray, flutist Yusef Lateef, bassist Rufus Reid, Jamaican Gutarist Ernest Ranglin and Sbongile Khumalo; and written and recorded platinum CDs for Sony/South Africa, Bongo Maffin, Brothers of Peace and Simphiwe Dana’s album, Bantu Biko Street. Mngwandi has also recorded his own album, with the EMI/South Africa group Bezwaan. Claes Brondal was born in Denmark, playing the drums since early childhood. Studied with drumming greats such as Ed Thigpen, Gary Chaffee, Kenwood Dennard and others. Versatile in many styles of music – especially loving jazz, funk, Afro/Cuban, Brazilian and Rhythms of the World.

*Your purchase of one ticket is for one Lawn Circle, which can sit a party of up to two people. All lawn circles are 6 ft. in diameter and are distanced 6 ft. away from other parties. Please bring your own blankets and/or beach chairs. For more information, visit the Theater FAQ page.