 ALICIA DATTNER, in 60 Second Life Stories, invites audience members to share a few intimate details about their lives to be performed; we improvise, on the spot, a version of their life in which they get what they had always wanted. Our cartoon artist will also draw a picture of the fulfillment of their dreams as our improviser plays it out. Our guest musicians additionally and simultaneously create an audio soundtrack that adds another dimension at a whole new level. The result of these layered performances is a unique, profound, and sometimes funny experience of watching one’s own life in the company of strangers. The sense of unity created is powerful and moving. For more info, please visit www.aliciadattner.com |
 BONNIE WAILEE KWONG and MARYBETH TERESZKIEWICZ present Tiens, Tian 天! (Look, the sky!). A multimedia performance: poetry, dance, music and visual art, which explores our emotional, psychic and metaphorical relationship with the SKY. A winding path of 50 feet of painted canvas brings the colors and dappled light of the sky down to earth. Poetry and movement express the search for meaning and connection with both the physical laws and mystery of our vast sky.For more information about the artists, please visit www.bonniekwong.info and visualdancer.com. |
 CHRIS OLANDER has been writing poetry since 1984 “articulating artistic words through music, spoken word and gestures: poetry experiences of energized body language.” Olander’s poetry arises from a land based ethics rooted in science, observation and reflection. “He explores human horrors and beautiful glories of mystical revelations and all that is possible in being here now. What we make of it is what we get.” Olander has worked as a Poet/Teacher with California Poets in Schools CPITS), since 1984. He was a founding director of Poet’s Playhouse of Nevada City, 1988-99 and the Nevada County Poetry Series of Grass Valley, 2000-12. Olander has worked as an organizer for the Berkeley Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival since 2001; as a Poetry Coach for California Arts Council’s Poetry Out Loud Program since 2006 and was the Calfifornia State Poetry Coach Champion in 2007 and third place coach in 2013 and 2014. His three chapooks, “Mass Man’s Epiphanies”, “December Birds” and “Iris” have each gone to press for a second run. Olander completed four solo CD’s of his poetry in April 2013 to complement his pre-released Cd Mass Man’s Epiphanies and his chapbooks. Two more CD’s, with musical accompaniment, “Wild Women Wake” and “J. C. and the Apostles” will be released in August 2014. More info: www.cpits.org/pt/mendo/chris_olander.htm |
 DAVID SCHILLER invites you to follow the philosophizing Jaques (played by Schiller), a melancholy lord of France, in his monologues from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Alone in the forest of Arden in service to a banished Duke, Jaques comes across a court Fool, and his world view is turned upside down. As he studies the Fool, he decides that he has a new calling. Instead of continuing down the path of depression, he will use his wit to transform those around him in order to, “Cleanse the foul body of the infected world”. Will he succeed with you? |
| EBMUD presents EarthCapades in the H20 Show. Learn about the importance and science of the Earth’s most precious resource, water, in “The H2O Show.” EarthCapades’ multi-talented performers inspire people to protect, respect and conserve water, while having fun! EarthCapades combines music, juggling, magic and comedy, with learning to enthrall audiences all ages. “The H2O Show” is a thrilling blend of environmental education and astounding entertainment! EarthCapades programs promote ecological diversity and the belief that all species have an inherent right to live in a safe and healthy environment. EarthCapades educates about serious environmental problems and solutions (teaching practical, achievable solutions) to help preserve, protect and respect the natural resources of planet Earth.More info www.EarthCapades.com |
 FERMENTING CITIZENS presents “The Wild What,” a rowdy meditation on water’s essential role in our lives. Through cantastoria, an ancient form of picture-story narrated with both sung and spoken text, Fermenting Citizens will incite, inspire, and engage folks to explore the problems and solutions to stewarding our most precious resource. Put down your glowing rectangles and raise up your singing voices as we swoon about ‘The Wild What’ and its lessons for our species in a time of dire consequences. |
 FRANCESCA BORGATTA, in “Puppets Make a Plea for Survival,” invites the audience to manipulate a set of five three-quarter sized puppets made of natural and re-cycled materials, displayed within the natural park setting. The puppets are introduced with names and sample dialogues. Adults and children are called to participate in improvisation and group story-telling using the puppets. For more info, please visit www.puppetfigures.com |
 KIRK LUMPKIN. The Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review: “Kirk Lumpkin has been an important part of the Bay Area (and beyond) poetry scene for years, hosting readings in San Francisco and Berkeley, helping to facilitate the Watershed Environmental Poetry Festival [with Poetry Flash & former U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Hass], and hosting open mikes at Burning Man.” He’s the author of two books of poetry, Co-Hearing and In Deep. He’s released two poetry/music CDs, The Word-Music Continuum and Sound Poems. He’s also released two CDs of original songs, Moondog Sessions and Positive Voodoo. He’s done featured performances of his poetry all around the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, in Los Angeles, New York City, Colorado; Toronto, Canada and readings in England (under the auspices of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). He’ been featured on the show Cover to Cover – Open Book on KPFA radio. He has been a featured poet at events that have included two U.S. Poet Laureates, one California Poet Laureate, and three San Francisco Poet Laureates. He is on the Board of PEN Oakland. He hosted the Café International Series in San Francisco when it was voted “Best Spoken Word Open Mic” by Bay Guardian readers and has been a pirate radio DJ. He was lyricist/lead vocalist/percussionist in the jazz-rock band, DETOUR (a Bay Guardian “Demo Tape o’ the Week” winner) that has more recently morphed into the music/poetry band, The Word-Music Continuum. He was a finalist in the UNISONG International Song Contest and received an Honorable Mention in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. He worked for the Ecology Center and its program the Berkeley Farmers’ Market for over 20 years. More info: www.KirkLumpkin.com |
 LEAH LAMB invites you to step into the forest for an interactive storytelling and music experience that includes a dance with a redwood, wisdom from an oak tree. Leah Lamb is an award winning playwright and screenwriter with a focus on mythic tales and using story for social change. She produced and hosted the green channel at Current TV and has written for Fast Company, National Geographic News Watch, GOOD, The Huffington Post. She produces In Living Landscapes outdoor storytelling adventures since 2012, is the creator of Soul Stories: one of a kind stories created for individuals that explore archetypes, symbols and more. She studied theater at Neighborhood Playhouse in NYC, and environmental education through performance at Prescott College. She recently completed her first novel, The Whale Dreamer. For more info, please visit www.leahlamb.com |
 MARIPOSA BLANCA presents a series of Tableaux Vivant and very slow dances with natural elements such as trees and bushes in the surrounding environment to connect with nature, creating a symbiosis of bodies with nature in an artistic and aesthetic way. The audience will be able to see the interaction of the bodies of the performers with nature, creating a listening and visual experience created to honor and reflect nature. The audience will be asked to join us in a collective chant, a soft sound to connect the bodies of audience, dancers and musicians with nature. A Body Landscape participants areAmaranth String Quartet: Helen Newby, Katie von Braun, Erica Zappia, Abigail Shiman. Dancers: Kenya Moses, Jenny Valdez, Jessica Browm, Natan Daskal. Painters: Adrián Arias, Maisa Arias, Ivonne Iriondo, Tania Firoa. Direction by Adrián Arias. For more info, please visit www.adrianarias.com |
 PHAVIA KUJICHAGULIA & VAL SERRANT present “Journey from Africa across the Diaspora.” Phavia and Val are a prolific duo, creating eclectic blends of traditional African, Classic African-American Jazz and traditional Caribbean music punctuated with spoken word, poetry on song. For more info, please visit www.kujichaguliaphavia.com |
 RAFAEL JESÚS GONZÁLEZ – poet. As professor of literature and creative writing, Rafael has taught at the University of Oregon, Western State Collage of Colorado, Central Washington State University, the University of Texas, El Paso (as Visiting Professor of Philosophy), and at Laney College, Oakland, California where he founded the Department of Mexican and Latin-American Studies. He also has taught in the public elementary and high schools under the Poets in the Classroom program. His poetry and academic articles appear in reviews and anthologies in the U. S., Mexico, and abroad; his collection of poems El Hacedor De Juegos/The Maker of Games published by Casa Editorial, San Francisco (1977-78) went through two editions. He has been nominated thrice for a Pushcart price. A selection of his moon poems La musa lunática/The Lunatic Muse was published by Pandemonium Press, Berkeley, California in 2009. More info: www.rjgonzalez.blogspot.com |
 RAGGED WING ENSEMBLE. In “The Music Tree,” an Ohlone creation myth follows Mol’ luk the Condor, his son Wek-Wek the Falcon, and Grandfather Coyote in the discovery of the musical and medicinal Elderberry tree. This short play performed by 3 women is woven with vocal music, and dynamic physical ensemble staging. Written by Philip Wharton, Directed by Cecilia Palmtag, and performed by the Ragged Wing Apprentices. For more info, please visit www.raggedwing.org |
 THE INCIDENTALISTS are an improv theatre group dedicated to the art of storytelling. Through audience input and live improvisation, we spontaneously create a wide variety of stories so that we all may be connected through the power and joy of this shared experience. Learn more about the art of improvisation with this special performance. Immediately following the performance will be a question and answer section with the group.For more info, please visit theincidentalists.com |
 THE NATURE POETRY OPEN SPACE will present featured poets performing their nature or environmental poetry and collaborating in their presentations with musicians and dancers, offering an open reading space for members of the public to read their own nature poetry or poetry written by others. This open space for poetry in nature is an opportunity for people of all ages to write, enjoy, and share their own nature poems. There will also be a Fall Equinox/Harvest Altar. For more info, please visit www.kirklumpkin.com |
 XOCHIPILLI and Associates “Papalotl Garden II/ Metamorphosis” will be a fun, thoughtful and healing art space, striving to make people think and engage in how much more we can do to change our ways and awaken consciousness about the dire condition of this incredible paradise called Planet Earth. This will be achieved by creating and interacting with beautiful, joyous art and poetry. |
