Loudoun District Gets Front Page Coverage

Congratulations to the Loudoun district! Hope to see everyone at the performance this weekend. Select link to view article.

Press for Loudoun County District

Congratulations to VSA arts of Virginia - Loudoun County for the Washington Post article today. Read the article here:
Curtain to Rise on Arts Center
Performance Space Built on Barn Site

Announcing the 2008 VSA arts Apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival

For the third year, VSA arts will partner with the renowned Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts to continue the VSA arts Apprenticeship. The VSA arts Apprenticeship provides a unique insight into the world of a professional theater for students with a disability, ages 19 – 24, interested in expanding their theater education and knowledge.

Every summer, the Williamstown Theatre Festival Apprentice Program offers 70 promising students classes in acting, voice, and movement. Discussions and master classes with notable professionals are also a part of the apprentice experience. Apprentices also learn about the different aspects of running a professional theater company by working in each of the various departments at the Festival on a rotating basis. Many former apprentices have gone on to successful careers in the professional theater.

VSA arts is now accepting applications for this prestigious program. The selected VSA arts Apprentices will have all expenses covered by VSA arts, to include:
* Application fee ($30)
* Tuition, room and board ($3,500)
* Round trip coach airfare to and from Williamstown, Massachusetts, including ground transportation
* Travel, room and board for a personal care assistant, if required
* Reasonable accommodation for the Apprentice’s disability

Download the official rules and guidelines here.
Download the official application here.

ASL Christmas Carol Tonight

From Colleen Kelly, Director of American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse:
"An ASL Interpreted performance of A Christmas Carol has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia. Pre-show entertainment begins at 7:15 and the performance starts at 7:30. Please feel free to share this announcement with family and friends who would like to attend a signed performance.

Lindsey Snyder, ASL Interpreter, will be signing from the house-left side of the playhouse. To best see both the play and the interpreter, I recommend you purchase reserved seating in the house-center or house-right sections of rows D through K or purchase general admission seating which will allow you, upon arrival, to choose seats in the house-right side galley on the lower level of the playhouse or house-center or house-right in the upper balcony. Although we usually don’t reserve seats for general admission, I have asked the house staff to hold seats in the above sections for you the evening of Wednesday, December 19. Please arrive early if you would like to take advantage of this seating option.

To purchase tickets, please visit the box office in person at the playhouse, contact the box office by phone at 540-851-1733, or e-mail our box office at tickets@americanshakespearecenter.com. Let the box office staff know that you want the best seats to see both the play and the interpreter. If you are making your purchase through e-mail, please also include your name and contact information, the date of the show, and your preference for purchasing your tickets (you may reserve your tickets and purchase them Wednesday evening or pay through the e-mail by including your credit card number and card expiration date). We recommend you do not use our on-line purchasing system as it assigns random seating rather than an option of specific seating."

Izzy Icarus Fell Off the World

VSA arts Presents
Izzy Icarus Fell Off the World
September 27, 2007, 7:30 pm

Teenage Izzy is fascinated by birds. With beach season fading, he loves to stand on the sand, flap his arms, and watch the gulls take flight for winter. His curious movements have attracted the eye of budding photographer Dove, who waits poised with her camera, convinced he's going to fly. That's why he's called Izzy Icarus, she says, like the character in Greek mythology. When her classmate insists that Izzy, who has autism, is dreaming the impossible, Dove is determined to prove her wrong.

Written by 15-year-old Aliza Goldstein, this winning play was selected for the 23rd annual VSA arts Playwright Discovery Award, one of several VSA arts literary programs which encourage creative writing in middle and high school. A sampling of poetry from these programs will be performed preceding the play. Experience these exciting new works as they leap from the page to the stage! For ages 9 & up.

Tickets Available online at: http://www.kennedy-center.org/tickets

Tickets also available at the Box Office or call:
(202) 467-4600
Toll-free (800) 444-1324
TTY (202) 416-8524
Groups (202) 416-8400

VSA arts is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information about VSA arts visit www.vsarts.org.

Theatre IV: Auditions for Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter

From the emailer: Auditions for Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter are by appointment only and will be held at Theatre IV's Empire Theatre on Sunday, June 24th from 7:00-9:00pm and Monday, June 25th from 7:00-9:00pm.

Casting 10 actors: 5 Men and 5 Women, age 18 and up, of varied ages and types. All Roles are open.

Those auditioning are asked to prepare 16 bars of a song and to be prepared to dance. Please bring music in the correct key.

Rehearsals will begin on or around September 10, 2007
Performance dates: October 5-21, 2007

All performers will be paid.

Please call 344-8052 x4 to schedule and appointment or for additional information.

Charlottesville District's John Trippel

Check out John Trippel's newly posted artwork here.
John's artist statement begins:
"For this period of life, my artwork is a work of the frozen moment. It wasn't always done this way. I used to work strictly from my imaginary characters and I would build up a scene to create a narrative moment of absurd caricatures in an imaginary place. It was a work of fiction but that has changed. Today and for the last year or so, I have been working from life depicting true places and trying to capture the feel and sights of real locations. All my paintings lately have had themes such as depicting local convenient stores or working and reworking a favorite coffee shop of mine. But the point is that I have switched to working on life as it really presents itself."

Blind artist tells his life story in 'Weights'

By Rita Charleston
Philadelphia Tribune Correspondent

A show written and performed by Lynn Manning, "Weights," is being presented by the Amaryllis Theater at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., through April 29.

Critically acclaimed in New York and Los Angeles, this award-winning, semi-autobiographical one-man show dramatizes Manning's triumph over extreme adversity. Through poetry, music and riveting narrative, Manning presents his incredible journey of an artist, who shot and blinded, refuses to be pitied or to fail his inner spirit.

Born in Los Angeles to an impoverished single mother and raised in foster care, by the age of 23 Manning had dreams of succeeding as a visual artist. Then, the unthinkable happened.

One night in 1978, a bar brawl escalated and Manning was shot in the head, losing his sight completely and changing the life he was planning to live.

"I had originally dreamed of becoming a visual artist, a Black Michelangelo," Manning says. "I was already painting and drawing and selling a few pieces here and there before the brawl. But my response to the incidence was quite a bit different from what I guess was expected.

"First of all," he says, "I was just glad to get up off the barroom floor and had already made alternate plans in my life that if, for some reason I couldn't paint, I would write. So I wanted to set that game plan in motion right away and I knew that the best way to do that was to go back to school, get as much training as I could, and be able to reclaim my independence which was very important to me."

And so he did. This man, who had grown up in foster care and who had already experienced a great deal of loss in his life, refused to suffer anymore. He insists he did not want to wallow in self-pity, which seemed to him counterproductive and of very little value.

Instead, he starting writing poetry at first and, highly successful, was invited to share his work with others. Having to perform in front of an audience was difficult because he says he suffered from stage fright.
But, overcoming that, Manning went on to test his skills as an actor, again achieving success. Later, that same success came to him as a playwright.

"When I was still a teen I told myself someday I would write my autobiography, so, when I did become a writer, that's exactly what I began to do. My first multi-character play was produced in 1991 and later there were more. 'Weight,' my ninth play, was finally done and presented in 2001."

The play, which premiered n Los Angeles, went on to win three NAACP Theatre Awards, including Best Actor for Manning, and has since been performed throughout the country, including by the Theatre By The Blind in New York City.

As a poet, his work has appeared in numerous magazines and literary anthologies. As an actor, he has appeared in such TV shows as "8 Simple Rules, "Seinfeld," "The Sinbad Show" and others.

Additionally, Manning has achieved "world class" status in competitive judo, going on to become the U.S. Olympic Committee's "Blind Male Athlete of the Year" after winning the Blind Judo World Championship at the 1990 games in Holland, and much, much more.

A true renaissance man despite his disability, Manning says he hopes his audience comes away with one message: "That is recognizing that there are far broader possibilities for people who are blind or visually-impaired, or disabled in general, and that since we don't all fit into one profile, one mold, we should all be judged as individuals."

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The Amaryllis Theatre Company is the Pennsylvania affiliate of VSA arts.

Dreamers News

The Richmond theater group "The Dreamers" will be performing Sunday night, April 22nd at the JCC. They've had the good fortune of receiving several mentions in the press lately which included a feature on the public television show Perspective and this article in V Magazine for Women. (Click on underlined words to read the article).

Dreamers Performance/Media Alert

Don’t miss an evening at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center on Sunday, April 22 at 7:00 PM to see one of Richmond’s most innovative and interesting theatre troupes going to work to make the performing arts more accessible to everyone. Last year the Dreamers shared a typical day in high school with Scrapbook Memories. This year’s show promises even more entertainment and fun as the Dreamers present Dream It. Do It. Dreamers is a group of dedicated actors who have the opportunity to showcase their abilities while learning transferable skills. Dreamers makes the performing arts more accessible to everyone while breaking down various stereotypes of disabilities to the world at large.

Tickets are $7.00 at the door and $5.00 in advance. Advance tickets can be purchased at Lipstock Laser & Cataract Center, 3701 Westiere Parkway, Innsbrook, just off of Cox Rd.

Want to get involved? Dreamers seeks volunteers and donations to help make its program and productions successful. Dreamers is sponsored by VSA arts of Virginia and the Weinstein Jewish Community Center.

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VSA arts of Virginia is a member of the international network of VSA arts, an affiliate of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.VSA arts, an affiliate of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where all people with disabilities learn through, participate in and enjoy the arts. VSA arts provides educators, parents, and artists with resources and the tools to support arts programming in schools and communities. VSA arts showcases the accomplishments of artists with disabilities and promotes increased access to the arts for people with disabilities. Each year millions of people participate in VSA arts programs through a nationwide network of affiliates and in more than 60 countries around the world.

In Case You're In New York

A Dancer's Hard-Won Debut
BY JOY GOODWIN

In a sunlight-infused studio at the Baryshnikov Arts Center one recent afternoon, Lisa Bufano sat in a corner, attaching her prosthetics. Ms. Bufano, a 34-year-old performance artist whose legs are amputated just below the knee, worked methodically to attach what she called her "running legs," a pair of coil-like springs. The task was made more difficult by the absence of Ms. Bufano's fingers; they too were amputated in 1994, in one of 20 surgeries undertaken to save her life.

The Boston-based Ms. Bufano was in New York to rehearse for the upcoming premiere of "Five Angry Mouths," her first dance performance. An untrained dancer, Ms. Bufano asked the choreographer (and former Bill T. Jones dancer) Heidi Latsky to create the solo for her - and to coach her in performing it. Ms. Bufano's solo, along with a new companion solo for Ms. Latsky, will debut at Judson Memorial Church on January 19 and 20.

Jogging around the studio in close-fitting lycra to the driving rhythms of Japanese pop, Ms. Bufano looked fit and sleek. When she struck a pose, the eye was drawn not to the shiny prosthetics but to her steely gaze. Despite the missing fingers, her fists looked tough and strong when she held them above her head. Intense yet unmistakably groovy, she suggested a cool, confident downtown woman.

Even later on, when she removed the prosthetic legs and slid to the floor, she carried herself with authority. When traces of vulnerability did appear, they were superseded by images of strength - sitting bolt upright, a sudden snap of the head, or one of those arresting stares.

Ms. Bufano's first dance solo shows the iron core of a woman who has been challenging herself ever since a raging staph bacteria infection made her an amputee at 21. Even while still hospitalized, the former art school student began painting, holding the paintbrush in her mouth. But it would be years before she went back to school in her late 20s. After graduating, she re-entered the work force as a web designer, then quit her job in 2005 to pursue art full-time.

This fall, when Ms. Bufano received a $4,000 Franklin Furnace Grant for Performance Art to stage a major work in New York, she knew it was time to work with a choreographer. "After I became an amputee, I spent a lot of time hiding behind a camera, doing animation and video," Ms. Bufano said during a break from rehearsals. "But this fall, I felt I had to pursue dance as a way to be more comfortable in front of people. Because it terrified me."

A friend recommended Ms. Latsky, who was struck by Ms. Bufano's potential from their first meeting. "Her body made such beautiful shapes," Ms. Latsky recalled. "And she has such a rich interior life that is so alive in her dancing - which is actually something that can be hard to discover in trained dancers."

Ms. Bufano relocated to New York for a few months to work closely with Ms. Latsky on technique and choreography. The two were determined to make an unstintingly physical piece. But it was clear that the process would involve more than steps. A key breakthrough came one day in rehearsal, the product of a simple request. Ms. Latsky turned to Ms. Bufano and said simply, "Tell your story."

Ms. Bufano chose to tell the story of one significant day during her illness. "It was one of the rare days when I was alone in the hospital," Ms. Bufano recalled. "I had known that they had taken some of my fingers, but I didn't know how much they had taken, because the bandages were there. I noticed one of the bandages was loose, so I started unraveling it, not knowing. And my hand inside the bandage was getting smaller and smaller. Then I saw my hand. I saw the five incisions where my fingers had been. They looked like five open mouths to me."

To Ms. Bufano, "That was a good sign. The fingers were bleeding and healthy - whereas the last time I had seen them, they had looked really bad."

When she told Ms. Latsky the story, it was, she said, "a big crying day." It was also the beginning of a more honest, vulnerable way of working.

"We really tied the meaning to the movements," Ms. Latsky said. The process was often emotional, marked by creative battles. A piece of music that Ms. Latsky loved was rejected by Ms. Bufano, who saw the song as the work of a tragic figure. "I didn't want people to see me as tragic," Ms. Bufano emphasized.

Ms. Latsky evidently agreed, for the figure that emerges in "Five Angry Mouths" exudes strength - even at her most defenseless and exposed. Ms. Bufano, who professes an admiration for "extreme" dance forms like Butoh, commands the stage by sheer force of personality. At times, the way she articulates the distinctive choreography is even somewhat reminiscent of Ms. Latsky's own movement style - fierce, compact, direct.

Ms. Bufano, who has performed the solo in local workshops, looks forward to showing it to its first large audience. For now, however, she can't bring herself to watch video of herself performing it. "I felt so emotional, seeing myself like that," she said, shaking her head. "The moments of vulnerability versus the moments of strength. It's really scary to be seen like that. But I also really want it to be seen."

Begins January 19 (55 Washington Square South at Thompson Street, 917-929-6985).

January 15, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/46645