TALE READING & FORUM @ ALOUD DOWNTOWN LA
ALOUD at Central Library and Fomenting ARTS Unlimited, Inc. present:
TALE OF 2CITIES: AN AMERICAN JOYRIDE
A performance, and THERE GOES THE BARRIO, an Interactive Forum about Urban Erasure
Wednesday, May 31, 7pm, Central Library Mark Taper Auditorium
Reservations: www.aloudla.org or (213) 228-7025
FREE
“Entrancing and exhilarating…molding gut-wrenching truths and hilarious caricatures into a portrait of the family of man—past and present.”
Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times
A six-act, two-part saga, Tale of 2Cities is a collision of life-stories from New York and Los Angeles spun into an epic stew by a young Echo Park DJ mourning his grandmother's death. Flashing back to 1957 when the Brooklyn Dodgers abandoned one neighborhood while in LA another was lost to make way for the transplanted team's new stadium, Tale creates a live séance among generations of interwoven characters on both coasts. From the rise of Senator McCarthy to the fall of the twin towers, "Tale swoops through cities and drops into the minds of a mini-series worth of major and minor characters." (David Cote, Timeout NY)
The first in Fomenting ARTS' bi-coastal series of "re-collection events," THERE GOES THE BARRIO, will feature a sneak preview reading from playwright/performance artist Heather Woodbury's award-winning Tale of 2Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks with Academy Award nominated actor John C. Reilly, SIX FEET UNDER alumnae Jill Soloway and Justina Machado, and actors Tracey Leigh, Christopher Michael Rivera, Monica Fourozesh, Hugo Armstrong, Leo Marks, and Heather Woodbury. A co-presentation of the ALOUD at Central Library lecture and performance series, the reading will precede an open forum that engages audience participants with the play’s central concern of on-going urban upheaval and how it continues to affect our sense of community.
THERE GOES THE BARRIO will focus on collecting images of people and places that define "neighborhood" for those who attend. All who attend are invited to bring a photograph or other image from their environment that speaks to them about their sense of neighborhood, place, and community, and the questions it raises. Will this place, object, or person endure or is it/he/she in danger of disappearing from the landscape? What is replacing it? “The purpose,” says Woodbury, “is to try to induce, in a sense, a nostalgia for the present.” These images and accompanying writing will be gathered in "community scrapbooks" that will travel as a companion display and be integrated into the production design with the bi-coastal premiere of Tale of 2Cities at UCLA LIVE and PS 122 (in New York) in October.
In addition to the reading and display of collected images, attendees of THERE GOES THE BARRIO will be invited to take part in an open discussion about the changing face of LA's East Side neighborhoods. Invited community participants include a youth poetry class from Dolores Mission School, the “Boyle Heights Poets” and Echo Park Film Center’s young filmmakers program, who will provide their own takes on changing urban landscapes.
Heather Woodbury is the founder and artistic director of Fomenting ARTS Unlimited, Inc. which was founded upon the belief that sharing the “foment” of theatrical and literary work as it develops is a means of drawing together people of various ages, ethnicities, regions and economic status, as well as bridging the gap between artist and community. Her first living novel, What Ever (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2003) was a ten-hour solo theater piece, directed by Dudley Saunders, which toured the U.S and Europe, and was adapted as a radio play hosted by Ira Glass. Directed by Saunders and featuring a cast from both cities, 2Cities co-premieres in LA (at UCLA Live's Fifth Annual International Theatre Festival) and in NY in October 2006. Heather is the recent recipent of the first ever Spalding Gray Award, honoring writer/performers who fully realize both of these aspects of Gray’s legacy.
ALOUD at Central Library is a presentation of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, which secures private support to help provide the Los Angeles Public Library with everything from books and materials to reading enrichment programs, technology, cultural events, exhibitions, and select capital improvements. With over 75 programs each year, the critically acclaimed ALOUD series of public lectures, readings, performances, and discussions spans a multitude of disciplines, winning national recognition for its outstanding and innovative literary and arts programming.


TALE OF 2CITIES: AN AMERICAN JOYRIDE
A performance, and THERE GOES THE BARRIO, an Interactive Forum about Urban Erasure
Wednesday, May 31, 7pm, Central Library Mark Taper Auditorium
Reservations: www.aloudla.org or (213) 228-7025
FREE
“Entrancing and exhilarating…molding gut-wrenching truths and hilarious caricatures into a portrait of the family of man—past and present.”
Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times
A six-act, two-part saga, Tale of 2Cities is a collision of life-stories from New York and Los Angeles spun into an epic stew by a young Echo Park DJ mourning his grandmother's death. Flashing back to 1957 when the Brooklyn Dodgers abandoned one neighborhood while in LA another was lost to make way for the transplanted team's new stadium, Tale creates a live séance among generations of interwoven characters on both coasts. From the rise of Senator McCarthy to the fall of the twin towers, "Tale swoops through cities and drops into the minds of a mini-series worth of major and minor characters." (David Cote, Timeout NY)
The first in Fomenting ARTS' bi-coastal series of "re-collection events," THERE GOES THE BARRIO, will feature a sneak preview reading from playwright/performance artist Heather Woodbury's award-winning Tale of 2Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks with Academy Award nominated actor John C. Reilly, SIX FEET UNDER alumnae Jill Soloway and Justina Machado, and actors Tracey Leigh, Christopher Michael Rivera, Monica Fourozesh, Hugo Armstrong, Leo Marks, and Heather Woodbury. A co-presentation of the ALOUD at Central Library lecture and performance series, the reading will precede an open forum that engages audience participants with the play’s central concern of on-going urban upheaval and how it continues to affect our sense of community.
THERE GOES THE BARRIO will focus on collecting images of people and places that define "neighborhood" for those who attend. All who attend are invited to bring a photograph or other image from their environment that speaks to them about their sense of neighborhood, place, and community, and the questions it raises. Will this place, object, or person endure or is it/he/she in danger of disappearing from the landscape? What is replacing it? “The purpose,” says Woodbury, “is to try to induce, in a sense, a nostalgia for the present.” These images and accompanying writing will be gathered in "community scrapbooks" that will travel as a companion display and be integrated into the production design with the bi-coastal premiere of Tale of 2Cities at UCLA LIVE and PS 122 (in New York) in October.
In addition to the reading and display of collected images, attendees of THERE GOES THE BARRIO will be invited to take part in an open discussion about the changing face of LA's East Side neighborhoods. Invited community participants include a youth poetry class from Dolores Mission School, the “Boyle Heights Poets” and Echo Park Film Center’s young filmmakers program, who will provide their own takes on changing urban landscapes.
Heather Woodbury is the founder and artistic director of Fomenting ARTS Unlimited, Inc. which was founded upon the belief that sharing the “foment” of theatrical and literary work as it develops is a means of drawing together people of various ages, ethnicities, regions and economic status, as well as bridging the gap between artist and community. Her first living novel, What Ever (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2003) was a ten-hour solo theater piece, directed by Dudley Saunders, which toured the U.S and Europe, and was adapted as a radio play hosted by Ira Glass. Directed by Saunders and featuring a cast from both cities, 2Cities co-premieres in LA (at UCLA Live's Fifth Annual International Theatre Festival) and in NY in October 2006. Heather is the recent recipent of the first ever Spalding Gray Award, honoring writer/performers who fully realize both of these aspects of Gray’s legacy.
ALOUD at Central Library is a presentation of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, which secures private support to help provide the Los Angeles Public Library with everything from books and materials to reading enrichment programs, technology, cultural events, exhibitions, and select capital improvements. With over 75 programs each year, the critically acclaimed ALOUD series of public lectures, readings, performances, and discussions spans a multitude of disciplines, winning national recognition for its outstanding and innovative literary and arts programming.


posted by Heather W at 1:00 PM
1 comments
