CTC Presents The Merchant of Venice
The Potent Force of Shakespeare’s Words
Every year as part of the company’s Main Stage season Classical Theatre Company produces at least one work by William Shakespeare. For their fifth anniversary season CTC will produce Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. This play is known in the classical canon for the harsh scrutiny with which it views the existence of both racism and intolerance in society. Further exploring this theme, CTC’s three-man staging of the play takes place in a sorting room in the World War II death camp of Auschwitz. In CTC’s production the setting of Auschwitz is a homage to other great renditions of this play, such as Tibor Egervari’s Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice in Auschwitz, as well as an uncomfortable prism that juxtaposes the elegant words of Shakespeare with one of the most terrible places man has devised.
Through the course of their performance the prisoners are able to express their own stories and injustices calling on the strength in Shakespeare’s words. The play does not end with a clear-cut resolution or with definitive answers on the issues of power and inequality. However, this production does stimulate the question of how our own prejudices big and small, blatant and subtle affect the lives of others and shape the world we all share. While not as satisfying as resolution, stimulating thought is sometimes the most effective step a society can take towards progress.
The Classical Theatre Company is dedicated to boldly re-envisioning classical drama on the stage, in the community, and in the classroom through engaging and enlightening plays - bringing them new life and relevance while maintaining the integrity that the works deserve.
The Merchant of Venice
Wednesday – Sunday, March 27 – April 14
Studio 101
Spring Street Studios
1824 Spring Street
Houston, TX 77007
Felipe Lopez Holds Studio Show and Sale
Image Courtesy of Felipe Lopez
Contemporary artist, Felipe Lopez, presents a special studio show and sale at his space at Winter Street Studios. Works on paper, linen, wood, and more are available for purchase. Monoprints, small scale sculptures, paintings, works with charcoal and other series survey the artist’s catalogue focused on melding color, psychology, perspective, and neuroscience. Vignettes of creative discovery and abstract expressionism reveal microcosms of ideas, theories, color schemes, and techniques all centering around science based concepts.
Lopez will also be revealing his recent paintings, the first of their kind in over 2 years. Lopez’s monoprints feature hand painted screens illustrating genetic coding of new thoughts are folded into paper airplanes, taking the colors and collision of lines into flight. Also on view include the artist’s drawings on paper, signifying the relationship of primitive connections through the rolls of the charcoal. These series and more will be featured in this special two day show and sale with special studio pricing on new paintings.
Thursday, February 28 6-9pm
Friday, March 1 6-9pm
2101 Winter Street
Houston, TX 77007
www.pelcontemparts.com/small-
Hope Stone to Honor Nancy Wozny
Hope Stone, Inc. honors Nancy Wozny with Hope Angel Award
Editor Nancy Wozny.
PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN.
Nancy Wozny, a local and national arts and cultural journalist, will be presented with Hope Stone, Inc.’s annual Hope Angel Award at the organization’s fourth whimsical, tongue-in-cheek gala Le Breakfast for Dinner on March 7, 2013. According to Jane Weiner, Executive and Artistic Director of Hope Stone, the Hope Angel Award is given to individuals who “rock our world and make our planet a cooler place to live.”
With her CultureMap column coined as “The Arthropologist,” Wozny devotes herself as an arts advocate for the city of Houston and inspires Houstonians to make art a bigger part of their lives. She divides her time between covering every inch of Houston’s art-scape in CultureMap, serving as editor of Arts + Culture Houston Magazine and writing for Pointe Magazine, Dance Spirit, Dance Teacher, Dance Source Houston and Dance Magazine, where she is a contributing editor. She was a 2005 NEA Fellow at the Institute for Dance Criticism and scholar in residence at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2010 – 2012.
Hope Stone, Inc. and Hope Stone Dance Company have become a leading force in Houston’s dance and arts education scene and Wozny has supported its growth from the beginning, as well as the professional growth of Hope Stone’s fearless leader, Jane Weiner.
Beth Muecke
Wozny, who shared a show at DiverseWorks with Weiner in the early 90s before Weiner made Houston her permanent home, had the opportunity to see Weiner’s second piece of choreography. “I’ve been watching ever since,” Wozny said. “I’ve been honored to witness her growth as a dance maker and have had the great joy of chronicling that experience in such outlets as Dance Magazine, CultureMap and Arts + Culture Houston.”
Hope Stone is proud to present Wozny with the award at the Breakfast for Dinner gala, recognizing the impact of Wozny’s contributions to the arts world and sharing with those in attendance the gratitude and appreciation Houston’s cultural community has for Wozny. “Nancy once told me that she dreams of seeing dance as a common discussion around the dining room table,” Weiner said. “I still live by that dream; it motivates much of what Hope Stone Dance Company does, so I am especially excited to have that discussion with Nancy around the ‘breakfast for dinner’ table.”
This year’s gala takes a French twist as Hope Stone transforms Warehouse Live, located at 813 St. Emanuel Street, into a Parisian café with guests donning their most stylish jammies and comfortable eveningwear. The night will also be filled with a rousing performance by Hope Stone Dance Company, delicious French fare by Swift + Company and music spun by L.A.-based DJ Anne Tyler.
DJ Anne Tyler
Beth Muecke is serving as the chair of the gala, along with Anna B. McCullough (dinner chair), Emma Moon (auction chair) and Denise Skorka and Sally Russ (decorations chairs). The event will raise funds to support the mission and programs of Hope Stone, including Hope Stone Dance Company and Hope Stone Kids, an arts education outreach scholarship program. Hope Stone – 2013 Breakfast for Dinner Gala.
Table sponsorships start at $2,500 and range to $7,500. Individual tickets are $250, along with a special “Merci Beaucoup” scholarship ticket at $500, which provides a child with a Hope Stone Kids scholarship for one session during the school year. To purchase, visit www.hopestoneinc.org or call 713.526.1907.
Le Breakfast for Dinner, Hope Stone, Inc.’s fourth annual gala
March 7, 2013 | 7:00pm
Warehouse Live – 813 St. Emanuel, Houston, TX
To purchase, call 713.526.1907 or visit hopestoneinc.org
CASTING CALL Jan. 26, 2013!
Sean Stubblefield and Brian Rincon are seeking Houston area actors for an original community theatre play benefiting Houston Food Bank.
The event, scheduled for March 2 at Caroline Collective, will also feature local artists and musicians to be announced later.
Auditions will be held Saturday, January 26 at 1:00 PM. 1619 Chapman Street, Houston, Texas 77009. Rehearsals will be held each weekend in February.
The Play: Figments of Emancipation
Synopsis: Two Central American Indian friends get caught in an adventure demonstrating through choice and causation how anyone might make a difference in the world and in themselves– directly and indirectly, as well as intentionally and accidentally.
The Cast: Actors are encouraged to offer creative input on characters.
TZE’MO: (no facial hair) American Indian or Hispanic male between age 18-30.
Straight man to Tanuc’s funny man. Serious and intellectual, cautious and considerate. Strong silent type; introvert. Central American Indian. Best friend of Tanuc.
TANUC: (No facial hair) American Indian or Hispanic male between age 18-30.
Funny man to Tze’mo’s straight man. Light hearted and reckless, goofy risk taker. Gregarious party guy; extrovert. Central American Indian. Best friend of Tze’mo.
CAESAR/ BIG RED BIRD DANCER: Caucasian male between age 18-25.
Exudes a powerful, confident presence.
JUAN DIEGO/ CAVE GUARD 1: male of any ethnicity between age 18-25, with youthful appearance. Juan Diego is 10 yr old.
GRANDPA SMITH/ CAVE GUARD 2: male of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
Grandpa made up as old man. Somewhat of a stoner.
ROMAN WOMAN 1/ GODDESS DANCER/ CAESAR’S SERVANT: female of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
ROMAN WOMAN 2/ DANCER/ Tze’mo’s COMPANION: female of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
ROMAN WOMAN 3/ DANCER/ Tze’mo’s DREAM GIRL: female of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
ROMAN SOLDIER 1: male of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
ROMAN SOLDIER 2: male of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
ROMAN SOLDIER 3: male of any ethnicity between age 18-30.
If you would like to participate, please email Sean Stubblefield at exastra23@gmail.com for more information.
Stay tuned to the A+C Blog for updates and details on the event!
The Bridge Club: STILL
Billboard Still I, 2012. Archival digital print. 24″ x 36″.
From the digital image sequence for the Billboard Art Project, Atlanta GA, 2012.
Art Palace hosts an exhibition of photographs with The Bridge Club.
This collection of photographs connects the spaces, objects and roles occupied by The Bridge Club’s temporal performance works. Each still offers intimate access to the hypnotic and beguiling worlds they create. Through intentionally isolating and freezing these fleeting moments the artists allow for an alternative experience of their work to draw new connections through time, space and narrative action.
Tenants at Will IV, 2012. Archival digital print. 60″ x 40″
From the installation & performance Tenants at Will, Knoxville, TN, 2009.
The Bridge Club is a contemporary visual and performance art collaborative consisting of artists Annie Strader, Christine Owen, Emily Bivens and Julie Wills. The Bridge Club’s interdisciplinary installation, video, live performance and digital media works are site- and context- specific, and each work investigates specific local histories, populations, contexts, stereotypes, expectations and conflicts. Performances and installations have taken place in both traditional and nontraditional venues, incorporating and responding to sites such as a hotel room, a city bus or an abandoned storefront in addition to the traditional gallery or museum space.
An anonymous collective persona inhabits each of The Bridge Club’s works, with each member artist donning wigs, shoes and a variety of carefully selected garments that relate directly to the site and concept of a specific work. The collective presence of the four costumed member artists lends an unsettling normative air to odd or uncomfortable situations, while costuming and object choices create a historical ambiguity of era that addresses change and continuity of gender and interpersonal histories, roles, expectations and behaviors.
Opening Reception, Friday, January 11, 6 – 8 PM
Art Palace, 3913 Main Street
