Saturday, March 21, 2009
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Thursday, March 19, 2009
DEAL OF THE DECADE!!!
Now, if your friends want to support Native Voices AND the Red Circle Project (RCP) Cultural Benefit fundraiser in recognition of National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day - there's a benefit pre-show party and performance on March 21st starting at 6pm - Performance at 8pm. Tickets for this event are $25 and can be purchased at the Red Circle Project website www.redcircleproject.org or by calling 213.201.1311
LOOKING FOR A DEAL?
DEAL OF THE DECADE! Become an Autry National Center Member and recieve two free tickets to Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morining Light! (a $40 value)
Go to http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/membership.php for more information about membership. When you join be sure to mention Native Voices for your two free tickets!Individual Memberships start at $45! / Dual Memberships $55 / Family Memberships $65
DEAL #1 Tonight and next Thursday are PAY WHAT YOU CAN nights (suggested donation $10)DEAL #2 I'm also attaching a "Buy one get one FREE" coupon you can send out -- make your reservations and pay HALF-PRICE at the door ($10 per ticket). DEAL #3 Bring a group of 10 and get 40% OFF -- Call Christi at 323.466.5830 or e-mail Christi@FLAGMarketing.com.
See! We've got lots of ways to help you help us fill the theater and show your support of Native Voices at the Autry! Won't you help us make 2009 a banner year for the nation's premiere Native American Theater Company!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Raving Reviews!!!!
"Breath-taking ... Sound and music are integrated flawlessly ... Wonderfully realized ... Moments of true genius! ... Harjo is a marvel, and her voice is beautiful! ... A grammy award-winning musician with a poetic Indian story - what a combination!"
These are just a few of the responses theatre-goers wrote to us after seeing 'Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light' during its opening weekend at the Autry. If you're one of the almost 500 people who watched Joy Harjo and Larry Mitchell during the play's first week, you already know what many others will soon learn- 'Wings' is now aloft, flying high on the praises being sung both by theatre-goers and critics alike!
We are VERY proud to share with you some notable, AWESOME reviews about the show!
Read here what our critics had to say! Click on the links to access the full articles.
LA Weekly Review
Native American poet and musician Joy Harjo is a woman who communes with spirits, and in this music-embellished piece, she opines about struggle, survival and transcendence in a powerful and eloquent voice.
-- Deborah Klugman
IndyBay Review
Harjo takes her audience on a journey that begins and ends with healing. If the essence of ceremony can be put on stage, she has done it.
-- Corina Roberts
LA Times
Her painful journey from a traumatic childhood to serenity and acceptance is well-charted, an inspirational odyssey that makes "Wings" take flight.
-- F. Kathleen Foley
From now until Sunday, March 29th, Joy Harjo's unique and deeply personal blend of performance, poetry, singing, and virtuoso sax come together to weave a spell on audiences. Reserve your seats today. Tickets are $20 for general admission, with a special $12 rate for Autry members and group sales.
I got to see Joy and Larry Friday night of opening weekend and LOVED it!!! I was so excited to see the show come together as a whole, it really gave flight. I keep hearing such great things about it, from all different types of audiences - college students, the elders, theatre people, non-theatre people- and it really can be appreciated on so many levels. Wings is therapuetic, healing for the soul. I'm hoping to see it again closing weekend as well!
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the San Diego Stage Manager
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Technical Director
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the L.A. Stage Manager
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Photo of the Day
Celebrate theatre!
But Native Voices needs your help too -- we all know nothing works better than friend-to-friend and word-of-mouth to fill the theater! Especially in this economic climate. So let's all support this wonderful community of artists and help fill the house!
A flyer is attached so you can send it out to your email lists with a personal note to make sure your friends and families see the show!
SAVE and print or forward to your friends!
What's a radio tour!?
Yesterday, Joy and I were quarantined in the Autry's green room! This was unlike any interview she had done before. We were there with a gaffer (a sound professional with a boom mic). Joy was on the phone with the radio host, having a seemingly normal conversation. However, the boom microphone was also streaming Joy's audio to the radio station in Wisconsin!
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Sound Designer
JANNA R. LOPEZ RĂ„VEN (Taos Pueblo, Yaqui) received her theater degree with a specialization in Sound Design from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. She has sound designed for Native Voices at the Autry’s productions of Kino and Teresa, The Red Road, and The Berlin Blues; and was the Special Effects (SFX) Recorder for SUPER INDIAN and the reading SFX recorder and sound effects artist for The Further Adventures of Super Indian. She also sound-assisted and programmed the SFX computer for Michel Tyabji for Native Voices' production of Salvage. This past year, she sound mixed for Jaxxtheatrics' children's program for "Willy Wonka, Jr" (7 wireless mics) and sound mixed Jaxxtheatrics (15 wireless mics) for the West Coast musical premiere The Life at the Stella Adler Theatre. She is also the Sound Designer for Embodi and Obnoxious; the Sound Stylist for the Antaeus Theatre Company in 2006; and was a Native Radio Theater National Audio Theater Festival Participant in 2006.
I first met Janna last Saturday, and it was the first time we heard the sound effects for the show. She is very quick! I say this because you can just see the wheels turning in her head. She is very knowledgeable, and studied with a famous sound designer in Canada.
Aside from that, Janna and I share a love for Harry Potter. When she heard my cell phone ringer she said, "Um Harry Potter, duh." Awesome!
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Front of House Sound Mixer
MICHEL TYABJI was born in India, but has lived all over the world, thanks to his parents, who both worked for UNICEF. Because of this experience, he has no particular affiliation to any single country. Rather, he views himself as evidence of our collective and inevitable similarities and has made it his work to affect resonance for this by being a bridge and advocate for music and other artistic works across borders and cultural divides. Thus far, he has recorded music, made films, and put on festivals in Africa, Asia, and the USA. The vehicle for these activities in the USA is Limitless Sky Records and Sounds Ready. www.limitlesssky.net and www.soundsready.com
Michel is SO good at what he does! He's been working with Joy and Larry to find the perfect sound balance during songs, sound effects, and when using mics. If something doesn't work, he always suggests trying new things to make it just right; he is the ultimate problem solver!
I also told him that Joy's, Ally's, and my favorite song to dance to during breaks is Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. When he heard the music, he came over and suggested another great movie by the same director: Taal - check it out!
Photo of the Day
Friday, March 6, 2009
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Scenic Designer
SUSAN BAKER SCHARPF is a freelance set designer and the full-time Charge Scenic Artist/Propsmaster at San Diego State University (SDSU). She graduated with a BA in Drama from Texas Woman's University and an MFA in Scenic Design from SDSU. She owns her own business, designing and painting scenery and murals both privately and commercially. Her set designs include Native Voices at the Autry's Teaching Disco Square Dancing to Our Elders: A Class Presentation, Stone Heart: Everybody Loves a Journey West, The Berlin Blues and Salvage; along with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Pastorela, The Tempest, Arcadia, and A Bright Room Called Day.
Susan is a very busy woman, and yet she still manages to create such beautiful pictures on stage. Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light has inspired Susan to approach her scenic design abstractly. Working on this one-woman-show, she had a lot to consider: the size of the space, the height, the colors, the stage itself. Not only did she craft smartly, she crafted creatively! When you come see the show, definitely investigate for hidden spirits in the set!
Photo of the Day
Pictured (left to right): Joy Harjo, Larry Mitchell
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Dramaturg
SHIRLEY FISHMAN is the Director of Play Development at La Jolla Playhouse, where she oversees projects under commission and in development. Dramaturgy credits at La Jolla Playhouse include: The Night Watcher, 33 Variations, Zorro in Hell, The Wiz, among others. Dramaturgy credits at The Public Theater include: Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters; Two Sisters and a Piano by Nilo Cruz; Tina Landau's Space; Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Tony Kushner's A Dybbuk: Or Between Two Worlds; David Henry Hwang's Golden Child; and many readings and workshops as co-curator of the New Work Now! Festival. She was a Creative Advisor/Dramaturg at the Sundance Theatre Lab, which featured: I Am My Own Wife; 36 Views; and The Laramie Project. She is a member of LMDA, received her MFA from Columbia University, and is a dramaturg for University of California-San Diego's Baldwin Festival.
Shirley is fantastic!!! I am her assistant, as well as Randy's, and as soon as she stepped into rehearsal, I started taking notes. She shared some amazing stories. She told me that she was working as a dramaturg before she knew what a dramaturg was! Many people don't know what a dramaturg is, even dramaturgs find it difficult to define. Among many things, a dramaturg gathers research surrounding the play and shares it with the cast and crew; in a very similar field, literary managers read and work on new plays. For Wings, Shirley has helped shaped the structure of Joy's script by suggesting to add and cut lines, maintaining the pace, and relaying main ideas to the audience.
Not only did Shirley work on Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife, but she insisted on adding a scene. Though Doug was resistant at first, he wrote her a note on opening night thanking her for her insistence. He permanently thanked her by writing her into the scene she suggested; you can find Shirley Blacker in the second act of the play!
Photo of the Day
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Native Voices invites SDSU Alumni to come out and support an important event!
Check out this awesome event in Los Angeles March 12-29
Discounted preview performances March 10-11
Join the Greater Los Angeles Alumni Chapter in supporting the theater performance of Native Voices at the Autry's world premier of Joy Harjo's "Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light." Directed by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw), Director of the School of Theatre, Film and Television at SDSU. Featuring the talents of R. Craig Wolf (Lighting Designer, SDSU TTF Professor); Ashley Johnstone (Lighting Assistant, SDSU MFA in Lighting student); Susan Sharphf (Set Designer, SDSU MFA Graduate in Set Design); Joan Hurwit (Assistant Director/Assistant Dramaturg/Blog Manager, SDSU M.A. Graduate student), Ally Zonsius (Stage Manager, SDSU Undergraduate student), Carlenne Lacosta (Native Voices Literary Manager, SDSU M.A. candidate), and Jeremy Lazzara (SDSU Technical Director).
Music can save you, stories can heal you; in words and song, there is an answer. From the imagination of musician, poet, songwriter, and playwright Joy Harjo comes a deeply compelling journey of struggle, self-discovery, and healing. Combining timeless wisdom with a modern edge, Harjo weaves the unforgettable tale of Redbird Monahwee, who attempts to find meaning and peace in the hardscrabble of modern life.
When:
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm
Saturdays and Sundays at 2pm
March 12-29
Previews March 10-11
Where:
Autry National Center -Wells Fargo Theater
Griffith Park campus:
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA, 90027-1462
With questions, please contact alumnichapters@sdsu.edu or 619-594-2586.
Sponsored by the School of Theatre, Television and Film, SDSU Alumni Association and Autry National Center.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Lighting Designer
R. CRAIG WOLF is a professional lighting designer and educator. Credits include productions for San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, Dance Theatre Workshop in New York, Virginia Shakespeare and the Richmond Ballet Company, Theatre Artaud in San Francisco, and the Japan America Center and Odyssey Theatre Ensemble of Los Angeles. He is senior author of the lighting and sound sections of Scene Design and Stage Lighting, now in its ninth edition, and is a member of the Board of Directors of U.S.I.T.T., the national association of stage designers and technicians. He became a lighting associate member of the United Scenic Artists' Design Union in 1977. He has taught at the Universities of Michigan and Virginia and is currently Professor of Design and head of the design program at San Diego State University.
I was lucky enough to take an undergraduate lighting class directly from Craig my freshman year in college! Craig is absolutely the professional his resume describes, but he also has a great personality... and the BEST laugh! I could identify Craig by his laugh from a mile away.
Not only has Craig blessed stages all over the world with his gorgeous light plots, he has also guided SDSU MFA (and undergraduate) students into amazing careers. Tuesday Curran Anderson (undergraduate) had early success after she graduated from SDSU, and now Craig is working closely with graduate student Ashley Johnstone on Wings. Craig truly has a talent for helping students develop their lighting design skills, and Ashley (with a noteable resume already, including Randy's fall SDSU show, Desire Under the Elms) is the finest example of Craig's teachings.
Photo of the Day
Pictured (left to right): Janna R. Lopez (Sound Designer), Shirley Fishman (Dramaturg), Me - Joan Hurwit (Assistant Director/Assistant Dramaturg/Blog Manager), Randy Reinholz (Director/Producing Artistic Director), Ally Zonsious (San Diego Stage Manager)
Monday, March 2, 2009
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Producing Executive Director
JEAN BRUCE SCOTT is co-creator of Native Voices at the Autry. She has spent fifteen years developing new plays, including more than fifty by Native American playwrights. At Native Voices, she has produced eleven New Play Festivals; five Playwrights Retreats; over eighty play readings; and thirteen new plays, including Equity productions of The Baby Blues, Jump Kiss, Stone Heart, The Red Road, The Buz'Gem Blues, The Berlin Blues, Please Do Not Touch the Indians, Kino & Teresa, SUPER INDIAN, Teaching Disco Square Dancing to Our Elders, Salvage and MĂ©tis playwright Marie Clements' Now Look What You Made Me Do and Urban Tattoo, in addition to Joy Harjo's Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light. She has been instrumental in creating the Native Radio Theater Project (NRT), a collaboration between Native Voices at the Autry and the Native American Public Telecommunications, producing new radio plays including: The Best Place to Grow Pumpkins, Melba's Medicine, Why Opossum's Tail is Bare, The Peach Seed, and the pilot and ten episodes of SUPER INDIAN. Her next project for NRT is The Red Road, starring Arigon Starr (Kickapoo), and directed by the legendary Dirk Maggs.
Jeanie is basically amazing. She is so busy, and is still the sweetest woman you will ever meet. Having been around acting her whole life, she has spot-on instincts and shares insight with the cast/production team. She is eloquent and confident, such an eye for detail; she is a wonderful role model. Jeanie has a gift for balancing her two roles: a smart business woman, and a creative artist. I always enjoy when she comes to rehearsals... and not only because she brings delicious brownies!
Recently, she is also our resident photographer! Most of the "Photo of the Day" posts you see are courtesy of her. I don't know what we'd do without her!
Photo of the Day
Pictured: Larry Mitchell (Musical accompaniment: guitar, drum, and of course... rattle)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Costume and Prop Designer
CHRISTINA WRIGHT has designed costumes for the world premiere of Phillip Glass and Robert Wilson's Monsters of Grace; international productions of Bill Viola's Memoria and Quintet of the Astonished; and most recently, for Native Voices' production of Diane Glancy's Salvage. Other favorites: Culture Clash's The Birds at the Getty Villa; James Joyce's The Dead at the Open Fist Theatre Company; Surfing DNA at East/West Players; Transformations, Notes: On Performance at the Wallenboyd Theatre; and The Mystery of Irma Vep and The Rocky Horror Show at the Tiffany Theatre. For the past eight years, she has loved designing and creating costumes and props for various productions with Native Voices at the Autry. Other clients include: Berkeley Rep Theatre, BRC Imagination Arts, The Getty Center, Artistry Entertainment and the Bedford Thompson Shakespeare Company. She was most recently honored by receiving the First Americans in the Arts 2007 Trustee Award for her work with Native Voices. She has also won the LA Drama Critics' Circle Award, Garland Awards, Drama-Logue Awards, an Ovation nomination, and an NAACP Award nomination for her other costume design work.
I only met Christina briefly at our rehearsal Saturday, but she is really cool, so I checked out her website: http://www.christinacostume.com/
I particularly loved her other creations! She has a store shop on Etsy.com - a website for talented artists to share and sell clothing, jewelry, stylized furniture, photographs, paintings, etc. If you visit her website, you can check it out... plus you can see photos from the shows she's costumed!
Photo of the Day
Friday, February 27, 2009
Who's Who in the Crew? Spotlight on: the Director/Producing Artistic Director
RANDY REINHOLZ (Choctaw) is co-creator of Native Voices at the Autry. He has directed plays across the US and Canada, including: The Rez Sisters, The Waiting Room, Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard, Proof, Speed the Plow, The Glass Menagerie, Desire Under The Elms and numerous productions of Shakespeare plays. For Native Voices at the Autry, he's directed and produced Urban Tattoo and Equity productions of Jump Kiss, Stone Heart, The Red Road, The Buz'Gem Blues, The Berlin Blues, and Please Do Not Touch the Indians, and Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light; executive produced Kino & Teresa, SUPER INDIAN, Teaching Disco Square Dancing to Our Elders, and Salvage. He received a BA from William Jewell College and an MFA from Cornell University. This March, he will be honored with the Citation of Achievement from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. The citation honors alumni who have achieved distinction in their chosen spheres of endeavor and who have exhibited values of a liberal arts education and of WJC; it is the highest honor bestowed upon a WJC alumnus. He is on the Board of Directors for TYA/USA, the Advisory Committee for the Native Theater Festival at the Public Theater, and a member of The National Theatre Conference. He is a tenured professor at San Diego State University in the School of Theatre, Television, and Film and on faculty for American Indian Studies. In 2007, after ten years as Head of Acting, he was named the Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film at San Diego State University.
This my second time as Randy's assistant director. I love it, and learn something new at every rehearsal. Not only is Randy a great director, but he is also truly a mentor and friend. He is very conscious of leveling the playing field, treating everyone equally, and making sure that everyone feels comfortable. The rehearsal space is a very warm and safe environment.
I have loved getting to know Randy over these last four years. I thanked him last night at the end of rehearsal for sharing stories of his past; it was nice to know that he trusted me. He said to me, "Well, that's what artists do." They share. Randy is an artist in every sense of the word, and it is a pleasure to be seated next to him.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
T.H.E.A.T.R.E. our definition
At first, he argued that a play (the physical book) is not theatre.
"Arguable," I softly said. He heard me.
Several famous theatre theorists argued that the text of a play, the written word, is enough to qualify as theatre. I don't entirely agree.
To him, he argued, theatre is the performance of written word.
Well, I argued, improvisation is still theatre. Even a dance performance is theatre IF it tells a story. A dance performance without a plot is theatrical, but is not theatre. Theatre originated as a form of passing along a story. That is theatre; theatre is the performance of storytelling.
With that, he agreed.
* * *
I write this because I realized tonight, as I watched Randy work with Joy, that the telling of a story is a very delicate process. Some of the stories Joy tells, true or created, are of a very sensitive subject matter. Sometimes, they are difficult to hear in rehearsal, no matter how many times she retells them. In order to effectively retell these memories, which Joy has a natural-born talent of doing, it requires immense strength and patience. We are still in the rehearsal process, but already, it is wonderful to watch Joy get lost in her stories.
We get lost in her stories every night at rehearsal.
I hope she doesn't feel small on stage all alone, because her words speak volumes and paint beautiful pictures.
PBS Newshour with Joy Harjo
Click to watch on YouTube.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Landscape of Performance
"Performance reminds me of going out into the ocean. No two days are ever the same. The Moon continues to move. Winds, currents, thoughts shift. They can change from one moment to the next. The trick is learning how to surf whatever is there. And if you huli, or flip out of the canoe, you have to know how to get back in. And keep moving."
Eagle Poem
Sing, dance and fly along to the musical version of Joy Harjo's deservedly famous "Eagle Poem." Visit CD Baby to purchase this song, and experience the other powerful tracks that Native People's Magazine described as "brimming with soul and beauty."
Click to watch on YouTube.
Joy's Reflection
A note to the actor in me:
You were there before I could speak
You were all the permutations of yes and no
You were the front door, the back door, and the place in the middle where the soul stands naked
You told the truth before it could be spoken
You spoke before there were words
You let me in when I asked you to open the door
I had to first ask
The heart stepped through first
All the rest of me followed: wind, elbows, lips, feet, a pool of sunlight before language, a sky of black peopled by stars, the awkward next to awesome grace
Here we are again
Back to the beginning of the urgent urge, to the first spark
We noticed it, spoke it, and became it.
We are.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Rehearsals AND Dance Parties!
This has been quite a treat for Ally (the stage manager) and me! During breaks, when actors usually relax, Joy puts on music and we all dance! We have become fast friends. The music truly unites us. Randy smiles as all the girls have fun dancing. I am tempted to record us dancing, for fun! But, it is almost sacred.
Subconsciously, as we dance, we recreate the moments and movement in Wings. We stomp dance, we shake, we thrash, we release, we laugh, we follow, we lead, and my favorite... we fly.
Tonight, Joy shared with me that she went flying in her dream last night. I wish I could fly in my dreams as often as she does. She said that it was very similar to the dreams she talks about in the play. You'll have to come to the play to hear about the exciting dreams...!
Check out Joy Harjo's "Reality Show!"
Click to watch on YouTube.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tickets! Get your tickets!
SHOW DATES AND TIMES: