PERFORMANCES 2005

a season devoted to THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
and the struggle between traditional values and
the desire for cultural assimilation or a new identity

followed by WORLD PUPPET WEEK

NITA & ZITA

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 15-17 at 8 p.m.

ARTSPOT PRODUCTIONS
Written and directed by Lisa D’Amour
Nita & Zita features Katie Pearl as Zita and Kathy Randels as Nita.
With an original score by New Orleans jazz pianist Tom McDermott and DJ mixes by Greg Wildz, costumes by Olivia Wildz, set design and assemblage by Shawn Hall, and video design by Maria Cataldo.

Nita & Zita is an intimate extravaganza about two visionary showgirls. Part ghostly docudrama, part showgirl spectacular, Nita & Zita begins in 1920 and takes audiences on an up-to-the-minute ride through the lives of these eclectic, elusive sisters.

Nita & Zita tells the real life story of two sisters – dancers, seamstresses, painters – and the mystique that still resonates long after their death. In 1922, the sisters from the Jewish town of Baia Maire, Romania, stepped off a ship called “The Reliance” onto Ellis Island. For Flora and Piroska Gellert, this was the beginning of a long life of travel, performance and fierce personal style. Traveling through this country and beyond as “Nita and Zita, International Dancers,” Flora and Piroska dazzled audiences with their handmade costumes and exotic routines featuring petite Piroska, a contortionist.

In the early 1940’s, they settled into a Creole cottage in New Orleans, performing in the French Quarter and in a nearby bar until their retirement in the 1950’s. Quickly, their home became the sisters’ refuge, their reclusive habits making them instant neighborhood legends: rumors spread about the “gypsy ladies” who walked to the grocery store wearing formal dresses, and who painted their entire house, inside and out, with wild polka dot patterns.

REMAINS OF SHADOW

FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 22-24 at 8 p.m.

By Naoko Maeshiba in collaboration with Tatsuya Aoyagi

Conceived/directed/choreographed by Naoko Maeshiba, this multidisciplinary performance piece illuminates the memory and history ingrained in the body that bridges two cultures: Japan and America. The shape and the form of ‘traces’ within one’s own body and mind, as well as in society are examined through evocative visual poetry. Intricate human relationships, our conflicted existence, and the journey between life and death are vividly depicted through layers of images. Remains of Shadow leads the audience into the sensorial experience of drifting created through text, movement, objects, voice, music, and video projection.

ARAB

(CANCELLED due to delays in visa approval by Homeland Security)

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 29 – 31 at 8 p.m.

Nora Amin of Cairo, Egypt

After an extensive European tour, prize-winning Egyptian author and performer Nora Amin brings her production to Amherst. Amin describes her multimedia production ARAB as “an attempt to question definitions, break the rules and taboos, shift the borders between cultures and genres, and finally re-create the cultural identity of the artist through live and artistic performance.” It starts by exposing the labels of identity (Arab/Muslim/woman), then goes towards a live exploration of how one can find her profound self beyond the layers of the outside images imposed on her, and – above all – through the foreign language that allows more proximity in the description of the experiences that create the specificity of the self. Since these experiences are themselves taboo in the native (Arabic) language of the person, they seek their liberation in another language that does not forbid them.

WORLD PUPPET WEEK

THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE

by Bertolt Brecht

FRIDAY, August 5th at 8 p.m. ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Company of New York

A visit from our annual favorites with their new abridged version of Bertolt Brecht’s THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE , which was based on a 13th century Chinese play. Both plays contain echoes of King Solomon’s demonstration of wisdom in devising a test to determine the true mother of a contested baby. In Brecht’s play a peasant girl rescues an abandoned child of noble parents in a time of upheaval. The girl protects the child through many serious and comic adventures. When the noble mother tries to reclaim the child in order to gain an inheritance, the resulting dispute is brought before an eccentric judge, who manages to hand down an outrageous but just decision. Six actors will play multiple roles. The production will incorporate masks, puppetry and costumes, with a live original musical score composed by Neal Kirkwood. Ralph Lee will design and direct the production, with costumes by Casey Compton.

BOY IN A BARREL

SATURDAY & SUNDAY, AUGUST 6-7 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

Devised and directed by Miguel Romero of Leverett, MA

Freely based on Alexander Pushkin’s Russian fairy tale The Tale of Tsar Saltan

A swan with magic powers, a vengeful bumblebee, a golden hero, and a lady pirate share the puppet stage in Boy in a Barrel, a rollicking fairy tale for all ages. The story tells of love, betrayal, and good-natured revenge when the King marries one of two sisters before going off to war. The Queen’s evil sister switches letters and leads the King to believe that the Queen and their baby son have died. In fact, the jealous sister has cast a spell that turns her sister into a swan and spirited the baby boy, destined to be the Kingdom’s hero, into a barrel that is dumped into the sea. Swan and boy end up on an island where they hilariously turn the tables on the evil sister, who has determined to marry the King herself.

The production features table-top, rod, and shadow puppets in colorful Russian costumes and was accompanied by rousing balalaika music and mock Russian sea chanteys.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is on Bay Road in Amherst.

Box Office opens July 11. (413) 542-2277

For information prior to the opening of the box office call (413) 427-6147.

SUMMER WORKSHOPS 2005

BIOGRAPHICAL THEATER

July 11-16

with Kathy Randels of ArtSpot Productions and Katie Pearl

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mae West, Harriet Tubman, Tupac, the old lady who lived down the street when you were growing up: all of these people had secret lives. Find the theatrical potential in the secret life of the person you have always wanted to perform, and explore your relationship to that person. This workshop gives you permission to excavate and create information about a person in whose shoes you have always wanted to walk. Using techniques of the Nita & Zita creative team, participants will work in theatrical and visual arts mediums to create a biographical sketch of their favorite subject.

STORYTELLING

July 18 – 23

with Nora Amin  

This workshop will concentrate on storytelling drawn from literary sources. Participants will work on:

1. How to use a literary source (play, novel, short story) and convert it into material for storytelling
2. Strategies to recreate/transform the initial stories through improvisation
3. Improve the story as a piece of oral literature, focusing on poetics and images.
4. Adding a physical input to further the expression of the story.
5. Creating group stories from the individual inputs/stories, by combining them and developing them into a collective structure exploring the result as a one big story.
6. Performing the “one big story” in addition to other individual stories.

The workshop above was cancelled. A workshop on Traditional Storytelling Techniques from the Upper Nile of Egypt, taught by Isis Misdary Saratial was substituted in its stead.

CLOWN

July 25-30

with Mark McKenna of Touchstone Theatre

Also known as “Courageous Acting: Creating a Clown,” this workshop will be an intense exploration of the sense of play, courage and skill needed to create a theatrical clown character. In a community of fun and support , built to encourage great risk taking, the actor creates a clown in the crucible between exquisite listening and revealing his/her most guarded self. Availability and generosity are essential, self-indulgence is scorned. Solo and group improvisations, assignments, along with individual guidance will locate for each participant how to create original, moving material thru developing his/her unique clown. Mark McKenna studied at the LeCoq School in Paris and is the Artistic Director of Touchstone Theatre in Bethlehem, PA.

SHADOW PUPPETRY: bringing shadows into the light

August 1-6

with Wendy Morton

This workshop explores dramatic storytelling through shadows and light projections. Shadow theatre has changed dramatically since the days before electricity. Advanced technology has given us lighting that can project sharp shadows on a screen in large scale. The performer must coordinate three elements: the light, the puppet and the space from the screen. We will practice traditional shadow puppetry movement to find subtlety and simplicity in expression. We will take a look at our own shadows, exploring how good and evil are viewed in our culture and how those values are reflected in our stories. To create stories on the screen we will employ modern film techniques and explore theatrical shadow images through improvisation. Workshop participants should bring a poem or song containing shadow imagery.

“The Ko Festival of Performance offerings are authentic, brave… its pool is international;
it sits on a unique throne.”. —The Greenfield Recorder

PERFORMANCES 2004

a season devoted to the theme of “The Document, the Documenter, and the Documented: celebrating the preservation of knowledge and lamenting its loss – through performance, display and public forums”

OUT OF THE GARDEN

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 16-18 at 8 p.m

a double bill of EVE and EXILE
Ko Theater Works of Amherst, MA

EVE: Leslie Farlow (choreographer, writer, performer)
In this dance/theater work, Eve dances into the Garden lured by the Apple, argues with the Snake, then confronts the Almighty on his puritanical attitudes towards sex. Prancing around in an Ann Taylor cocktail dress, she’s flung to the ground by the wrath of you-know-who and finally dances joyfully in defiance. Text is written by Lesley Farlow with excerpts from the Gnostic Gospels. Original music composed by Roger Seitz. Costume by Thrift Shop.

EXILE: Leslie Farlow (choreographer, writer, performer)
Video and direction by Mitchell Polin
In movement and monologue, Exile traces a woman’s journey up to the line of the unthinkable act-and over. Based on the story of Medea, with text drawn in ancient Greek from the Euripides play, as well as from the trials and writings of Andrea Yates and Susan Smith.

THE HEROIC AND PATHETIC ESCAPADES OF KARAGIOZIS

SATURDAY, JULY 20th at 8 p.m. ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Company of New York
A visit from our annual favorites with their new piece drawn from the the folk puppet theater tradition of Turkey and Greece. In these tales our hero uses all his wit and a minimum of actual work to satisfy his insatiable hunger. Karagiozis presents a world where the underdog sometimes manages to scramble to the top of a realm populated by an array of heroes and fools, beauties and dragons. These tales reflect the outrageous humor and feisty spirit of nations who have survived centuries of empires, invasions and political turmoil. Mettawee will use a range of scales to express the heightened reality of these stories, incorporating puppets, masks and giant figures in the process of bringing them to life.

An all-ages event, outdoors on the Amherst College Observatory Lawn off of Snell Street. Bring blankets, lawn chairs and insect repellant, but leave the pets at home.

THE ALEXANDRIA CARRY-ON

FRIDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 23-25 at 8 p.m.

A collaboration by Laurie McCants, Theo Bleckmann,  and F. Elaine Williams with Sabrina Hamilton and Rand Whipple

The vanished Library of Alexandria, once contained almost all of the known books of the world, gathered from the many cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. It disappeared without a trace. This new solo music-theatre piece tells the story of a curious slave (played by avant-garde jazz performer Theo Bleckmann) who repairs the precious papyrus scrolls stored in the honeycombed shelves of the Library. He teaches himself to read, and discovers what has been hidden from him: the tantalizing possibility of knowledge, freedom, and love. Blending ancient text, contemporary music, and modern technology, THE ALEXANDRIA CARRY-ON premiered at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble in Pennsylvania, and will be performed in the fall at the new Biblioteca Alexandrina in Egypt, followed by a national tour.

Performances of THE ALEXANDRIA CARRY-ON at the Ko Festival are supported in part by a grant from the LEF Foundation.

SOUNDING TO A

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 30 – AUGUST 1 at 8 p.m.
and special matinee on SUNDAY, AUGUST 1 at 3 p.m.

Ko Theater Works of Amherst, MA  premieres a multimedia performance piece about refugee trauma from the Jewish ghetto in Shanghai to 1950s Cleveland, and the solace of food. The project is conceived and performed by Eva Ungar Grudin, in collaboration with director and designer, Sabrina Hamilton, Ko Festival Artistic Director, and with Yossi Gutmann, the world-renowned Israeli violist based in Vienna, Austria, who performs in the piece and serves as Music Director.

POET IN NEW YORK: A one-man fantasia about gay Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, AUGUST 6-8 at 8 p.m.

Pig Iron Theatre of Philadelphia, PA With Dito van Reigersberg, Directed by Dan Rothenberg

In 1929, Lorca, suffering from a broken heart, arrives in New York City, just in time to see the Stock Market Crash.  In a landscape of tenement buildings, Harlem blues clubs, and overcrowded streets, he is unable to write.   POET IN NEW YORK is about Lorca’s artistic and sexual awakening in the unfamiliar and chaotic metropolis of Manhattan.  Dito van Reigersberg plays eleven characters in this highly physical one-man tour de force.

WINNER – Total Theatre Award, London

“Intelligent and evocative” — The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A stunning performance” — The Herald (Edinburgh)

PERFORMANCES 2003

A Summer of Ensemble Theatre

THE DANCING FOX: WISDOM TALES FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

SATURDAY, JULY 12th at 8 p.m. ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Company of New York
A visit from our annual favorites with their new piece drawn from the shared folk traditions of Jews and Arabs, including the allegorical writings of philosophers and Sufi mystics, as well as fables and folklore. Many characters, including a leviathan, a couple of fish, some clever foxes, and a number of wise and foolish humans, are brought to you using puppets, masks and live music. An all-ages event, outdoors on the Amherst College Observatory Lawn off of Snell Street. Bring blankets, lawn chairs and insect repellant, but leave the pets at home.

IF AT ALL

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 18-20 at 8 p.m. in the Holden Theater

Touchstone Theatre of Bethlehem, PA in collaboration with Gerard Stropnicky of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble of Bloomsburg, PA
From Bethlehem, PA, Touchstone Theatre brings us an original piece of ensemble theatre in which we see how relationships with our parents and our children evolve, and how the “sandwich generation” manages. It’s an exploration of the meaning of time and life, acted with Touchstone’s characteristic humor, poignancy, and movement. Drawn from texts as diverse as T.S. Eliot’s FOUR QUARTETS and texts by Einstein, Stephen Hawking and contemporary cosmologists, IF AT ALL is an entertaining and provocative creation that strives at the mystery of our day to day struggle with nature of time and eternity. The company brings together relatives and relativity, and the conjunction of the cosmic and the commonplace, in a work that offers some ideas of love, faith, the healing power of time, and the joy that comes from the journey.

The Ko Festival of Performance hosts:

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE NETWORK OF ENSEMBLE THEATRES (N.E.T.)

MONDAY – SUNDAY, JULY 21-27

a gathering of artists, presenters, critics, scholars, and students interested in ensemble theatre with the participation of (to date):

The following performances at the conference are open to the public:

10 BRECHT POEMS

THURSDAY – FRIDAY JULY 24-25 at 7 & 9 p.m. in Webster Hall, Studio 3

A co-production of NaCl Theatre and Strike Anywhere of New York
Conceived and performed by Tannis Kowalchuk and Leese Walker

“In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing about the dark times.”

This timely piece celebrates the voice of artists, Brecht the poet, the wonders of theatre, and humankind’s unstoppable struggle for light in the shadows of war, oppression and suffering. The talented duo of Tannis Kowalchuk and Leese Walker make use of their extensive training in physical theatre, music, and storytelling to bring to life this New Theatre performance. Each of the ten poems in the series is heralded by a handwritten placard and a simple chime, as the actresses juxtapose song, dance and humor with Brecht’s poignant social critique and moving poetry. With grace, skill, and extraordinary energy, the actresses transform the stage, turning simple instruments and objects into the devices of a performance style akin to magical realism.

THE MURALS OF ROCKEFELLER CENTER

THURSDAY – FRIDAY JULY 24-25 at 8 p.m. in the Holden Theater

The Irondale Ensemble Project of New York
The Irondale Ensemble, an experimental/research theater ensemble established in 1983, with a history of 40 major Off-Broadway shows, brings us a glimpse of 1927, a time when America was at a crossroads, looking with hope and vision to the creation of a new and better future. In order to commemorate a nation on the verge of cultural advances, captain of industry John Rockefeller, Jr. enlisted Diego Rivera, a world-renowned artist from Mexico, to paint a mural over the information desk in the main lobby of the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center. Before Rivera’s colorful fresco could be completed, Rockefeller’s representative noticed a prominent portrait of USSR founder Vladimir Lenin. They fired Rivera, concealed the painting from the public’s view and later blasted his work off the wall with air hammers, reducing it to dust and rubble. In telling the story, Diego Rivera makes use of the lives and legends of other prominent figures of the age, notably Charles Lindbergh and John Dillinger, in order to examine the role of the hero and anti-hero in American society. Like Rivera, they too attempted to provoke the prevailing powers, and both were destroyed by the ‘Rockefellers’ with whom they did battle.

ASSIMILATION

SATURDAY – SUNDAY JULY 26-27 at 7 & 9 p.m. in Webster Hall, Studio 3

Cornerstone Theatre of Los Angeles
ASSIMILATION is a solo performance piece written and performed by Shishir Kurup, an Indo-African-American Actor/Writer/Director/Composer born in Bombay, India and raised in Mombassa, Kenya. Directed by Page Leong, the piece is a serio-comic unraveling of the complexities of emigration. Stories of struggling for identity within America’s homogenizing melting pot are told through vignettes featuring a white Southern boy, an aging African street vendor, a Thai waitress, two Palestinian shopkeepers and a liberal casting director. ASSIMILATION premiered at Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles. Kurup is an award-winning ensemble member of the renowned Cornerstone Theater Company, whose members frequently travel throughout rural and urban America and settle in towns for several weeks to put on a play. The company works collectively with community members to adapt classic plays to meet specific issues and needs within the community. ASSIMILATION will soon be published by Rutgers Press in the anthology Word: A Century of Asian American Writing.”

CLYT AT HOME

SATURDAY – SUNDAY JULY 26-27 at 8 p.m. in the Holden Theater

The Ghost Road Company of Los Angeles
An adaptation of the Oresteia, conceived and directed by Katharine Noon, written by Katharine Noon and Chris DeWan, with words and music by David Bickford, this production was developed by the Ghost Road Ensemble in collaboration with Theatre of NOTE under the auspices of the ASK Common Ground Festival. It is an exploration of the Greek plays that encompass the fall of the House of Atreus. Set against the backdrop of the Trojan war, the events of the story are seen through the eyes of the one who stayed at home, Clytemnestra. CLYT AT HOME, created through an ensemble process, pulls from many varied sources ranging from the plays themselves to current headlines which are, in turn, filtered through the personal points of view of each member of the ensemble. Through this process an entirely new theatrical world is created as we follow the journey of Clytemenstra through the events of these stories. The world is one of facade and political spin, as the characters try to hold the power structure together the interior of their lives is in full decay. In this timely production, the country is financially gutted from fighting wars abroad. There is unrest in the streets and the ruling class is in hiding . As the play progresses this facade begins to crack. Clytemenestra, a woman born into power, plays the game of the dutiful political wife in a loveless marriage until the death of her daughter. Something snaps in her and she takes matters into her own hands. A woman, beaten by life, decides to take control of her destiny. She discovers, for the first time, that she has a choice but with that choice comes a cost. This production received a LA Weekly Award for best actress, Jacqueline Wright (Clytemnestra) and was nominated for an LA Weekly Award for best adaptation, and an Ovation Award for best play,

For further conference information and registration visit:
www.ensembletheaters.net

Post-Conference Performances:

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, AUGUST 1-3 at 8 p.m. in the Holden Theater

ONE WAY STREET

Sandglass Theater of Putney, VT
in a piece about time, memory, cultural history, and the sense of life’s mystery. Using texts from Walter Benjamin, the 1920’s/30’s German Jewish literary critic, Bass and members of Sandglass Theater create a world of image in which a key has been irrevocably lost, but the desire to search for it remains. This is a state of longing, a search for that which cannot be found. It is the search which matters, not the object of the search. The world of ONE WAY STREET is populated by figures who are fragments of dreams, of childhood, of poems. These characters emerge from Benjamin’s texts: the Angel of History, the Little Hunchback of nursery songs, and someone who suggests Benjamin himself but who might be any searcher, any collector of the timeless objects of history and culture. These characters inhabit the remains of cities, the buildings of which are themselves only fragments. Somewhere within these fragments is a key, but one can only wander and hope to encounter it. Collaborating on the project is Salvadoran theater director Roberto Salomon, who works and resides in Geneva, composer Paul Dedell, and Sandglass co-founder, Ines Zeller Bass.

Due to illness, the Ko Festival of Performance must postpone its performances of SOUNDING TO A. The production will appear next season, in the 2004 Ko Festival of Performance. In its place we have the following:

THE LIVING ROOM

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, AUGUST 8-10 at 8 p.m. in the Holden Theater

Chimaera Physical Theater of Amherst, MA
THE LIVING ROOM is an evening of work by the Chimera Physical Theater, movement/theater artists who are based in Amherst, but who perform nationally and internationally. THE LIVING ROOM is a bold combination of theatrical narrative and the pure physicality of dance. The essence inherent in dance is combined with the specific desires and personality of a human character. The result is a physical theater where potent emotional expression, the heightened specificity of intention and the sheer power of unbound physical movement come together to communicate directly to the hearts and minds of the audience.

The concert will include The Living Room, Soliloquy, and a new piece created while in residence at KO, called KO-Lab Oration.

The Living Room: “dramatically intense and often boisterously amusing…alarming and entertaining to behold.” Told through a vivid and emotionally charged physical language, The Living Room takes you through the lives of two characters, compressing and expanding time, and stabbing to the heart of its central question: do you dare to deeply love another person? Soliloquy is a solo to the music of J. S. Bach, which takes the audience into the internal struggle of a human being’s passionate desire to change. is a wildly dynamic piece,
 — Jack Anderson of the New York Times

12th ANNUAL KO FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE

PERFORMANCES 2002

SATURDAY, JULY 20th at 2:00

THE MIDSUMMER PARADE:
A Topsy-Turvy Celebration of the Ko Festival’s 11th Anniversary and of the Arts in Amherst

Midsummer’s Day has traditionally been celebrated as the triumph of the sun over the winter darkness. In many cultures, costumes are worn and dances performed to celebrate the spirit of light, life and love. Spirits are said to be abroad, making mischief and turning things upside down. It is in this spirit of the joy of summer light, the mystery of the world of the unseen, and the magic of the arts that the Ko Festival presents this parade of giant puppets and collaborations between local artists and community members. Downtown Amherst. FREE!

SATURDAY, JULY 20th at 8:00

THE MONKEY KING

Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Company
Drawn from Chinese folklore, Ralph Lee’s production uses an array of puppets and live music to portray the adventures of the Monkey King. Outdoors on the Amherst College Observatory Lawn off Snell Street.
Adults $5.00, Children $3.00

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, JULY 26-28

RAGE WITHIN/WITHOUT

Kathy Randels
Through movement, personal narratives, historical facts and recent case histories, New Orleans artist Kathy Randels explores anger, aggression and violence in women. The piece tells the storie of why women, usually thought of as the more docile sex, become violent and sometimes kill. Through the Illinois Clemency Project for Battered Women, Randels interviewed two women incarcerated for killing their abusive partners. By weaving her conversations with these women with the testimony of a female gang member and text from Anne Jones’historical account of women who murder Women Who Kill, with original poetry and prose, Randals has created a performance that has been performed to great acclaim in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Denmark, New Zealand, Scotland, Slovenia and throughout the United States.

“…rising far above the simplistic and polarozing platitudes that usually characterize media discussions of topics like domestic abuse…Rage Within/Without refuses to provide easy answers to deeply disturbing questions…Rage is a thrill to watch thanks to her sophisticated acting style and penchant for finding humor in the most harrowing moments”
–Chicago Reader, Chicago, IL-

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, AUGUST 2-4

SECOND SKIN

Joan Schirle
Internationally renowned physical theatre performer Joan Schirle, co-Artistic Director of the Dell’Arte Company, presents her solo mask theatre performance, drawn in-part from her extensive studies in Bali. For over twenty years Schirle has intrigued and entertained audences all around the world. In Second Skin, Schirle’s virtuoso transformations shine through the world of theatrical masks, allowing the characters themselves to create a spirited world of obsession, desire and luminosity. With humor, movement, music, and a group of half and full masks, her stories of wildly disparate characters coalesce around the threshold of the afterlife, as Schirle weaves multiple character portraits into an all-souls’ journey full of passion and humor.

“…Joan Schirle has a way of combining beauty, poetry, laughter , and transformation in
performances that show her not only as a master of her craft, but as a poet of the stage.”
— Eureka Times Standard, Eureka, CA

FRIDAY-SUNDAY, AUGUST 9-11

IT’S A SMALL HOUSE AND WE’VE LIVED IN IT. ALWAYS

Split Britches/The Clod Ensemble
Fresh from their run at La MaMa in New York, the acclaimed lesbian theatre company, Split Britches in their new duet. Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw return to the Valley with their production about long-term relationships. This piece was commissioned by the British Festival of Visual Theatre and premiered at the Purcell Room of the South Bank Arts Complex in London. Directed by SuzyWilson, it features original music by Paul Clark of Britain’s Clod Ensemble. Peggy Shaw explains: “Two explorers lay claim to the some territory. These people have known each other for a long time. They occupy a house the size of a small stage. A house that has been divided and subdivided by time and bad habits. They sit on a porch, watch the horizon, and wait for the weather to change. Their only hope is an audience.”

10^th ANNUAL KO FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE

2001 Performances

SATURDAY, JUNE 30th at 2:00

THE MIDSUMMER PARADE:

A Topsy-Turvy Celebration of the Ko Festival’s 10th Anniversary and of the Arts in Amherst Midsummer’s Day has traditionally been celebrated as the triumph of the sun over the winter darkness. In many cultures, costumes are worn and dances performed to celebrate the spirit of light, life and love. Spirits are said to be abroad, making mischief and turning things upside down. It is in this spirit of the joy of summer light, the mystery of the world of the unseen, and the magic of the arts that the Ko Festival presents this parade of giant puppets and collaborations between local artists and community members. Downtown Amherst. FREE

JULY 6-8

KEEPING A BREAST

Written and performed by BJ Goodwin

Directed by Janna Goodwin

BJ Goodwin, one of the Valley’s favorite performing artists, was diagnosed in 1996 with breast cancer. This piece is a richly resonant, humorous and deeply moving story based on her experiences seeking help and information and discovering resources. From diagnosis, through a plethora of treatments, to the transformation of a life, this is one woman’s journey of healing body and soul.

JULY 15

COMMUNICATIONS FROM A COCKROACH: Archy and the Under Side

Mettawee River Company/The Shakespeare Project

Ralph Lee’s production uses an array of puppets to show the adventures of Archy and Mehitabel, two characters who first appeared in Don Marquis’ column in the New York Evening Sun in 1916. Archy, a cockroach who possesses the reincarnated spirit of a poet and Mehitabel, an alley cat with the soul of Cleopatra, and their eccentric acquaintances face the modern world with humor and a sturdy spirit of determination. Glimpse the urban life from the lowly perspective of this little bug-poet. Outdoors on the Amherst College Observatory Lawn off Snell Street.

Adults $5.00, Children $3.00

JULY 27-29

PEACHES

Progress Theatre

A look at the archetype of black womanhood found in the famous Nina Simone song “Peaches,” examined through the lens of history. This talented company of dynamic, young New York performers is directed by Cristal Chanelle Truscott. A co-presentation of the Ko Festival of Performance, NewWorld Theater, and P.S. 122

AUGUST 3-5

I WILL BEAR WITNESS: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer

Theatre Three Collaborative

Co-Adapted and Performed by George Bartenieff

Co-Adapted and Directed by Karen Malpede

“To see I Will Bear Witness is to experience something central to the life of the past century. You may feel stronger, more knowledgeable and emotionally richer. At least I did.”

-Michael Feingold, Village Voice

For all twelve years of the Third Reich, Victor Klemperer, a German Jew who was never deported, kept a secret diary. He recorded in meticulous detail the humiliations and insults, absurdities and brutalities of a civilized society sliding into barbarism. Published in English to universal acclaim only last year, the deeply personal and stunningly vivid diaries are transformed into a riveting solo performance.

2001 WORKSHOPS

JUNE 25-30

GIANT PUPPETS & OTHER PARADE CREATURES

Alison Heimsted

The making and performing of large puppets can empower communities to come together and create their own images for celebration or protest. This workshop we will look at variety of large puppet forms including backpack puppets, three-pole puppets and dragons. Led by Alison Heimstead, (Bread & Puppet and Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre’s Mayday Parade in Minneapolis), students will design puppets, build them, and choreograph a sequence for the Midsummer Parade.

JULY 2-7

VIDEOTAPING LIVE PERFORMANCE: For directors, choreographers & performers

Michael Billingsley

Tired of poor quality video documentation of live performances? This workshop with Michael Billingsley, video artist, audio engineer and Executive Director of ACT will cover single and multi-camera shoots, camera techniques, technical and aesthetic considerations in working with theatrical sound and lighting, postproduction and presentation. Participants will gain practical experience working in TV studio situations and in the theater capturing live performance on video. No previous experience necessary.

JULY 23-28

INTERACTIVE THEATER & SOCIAL DIALOGUE

Michael Rohd

Explore performance process and issue-based dialogue with groups; work on facilitation, improvisation, movement, ensemble, and generating performance material. Make art while learning tools to take back to your group. Michael Rohd, author of Theatre for Community, Conflict, and Dialogue, will share his work as founder of Hope Is Vital, an international theatre and community dialogue resource. These tools can be used in a variety of professional and community contexts, including public health, educational, and theatre settings. Limited enrollment, so register soon!