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2020 Season

2021-02-25T13:47:12-05:00

From Artistic Director, Sabrina Hamilton

It was a devastating process, but early in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that the responsible thing to do was to postpone the exciting “Eco-Justice” season we had curated, along with “ENSEMBLE: Seeding the Future,” a conference/mini-festival we were co-hosting with a group of Valley theater ensembles and the Network of Ensemble Theaters.

Instead we gathered digitally to continue our practice of presenting performance with  post-show discussion and offering artist training workshop. We  were also doing the work to necessary sustain Ko Theater Works and the Ko Festival of Performance, looking rigorously inward and outward to address issues of racial injustice, access and equity, and working hard our nurture and support our community of artists, both local and national

PERFORMANCES

THE MAGIC CITY MASSACRE • Streaming online June 19 at 7:30 EST

THE MAGIC CITY MASSACRE • Streaming online June 19 at 7:30 EST

selections of the play by DELETTA GILLESPIE
Post-show discussion will follow and include DARYL DAVIS, noted for his work convincing Klansmen to leave and denounce the KKK.

Situated in the fictional Museum of Conveniently Forgotten History, “The Magic City Massacre” tells the story of one of the most prosperous black communities in the history of the United States, how Tulsa came to be the site of the worst incidence of civil unrest second only to the Civil War, and why almost one-hundred years later, most Americans still don’t know about it. Your exhibit guide is JUSTICE, a docent....
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2020 WORKSHOPS

WRITING FROM STILLNESS, SPEAKING FROM SILENCE: Contemplative Practice for Writers

WRITING FROM STILLNESS, SPEAKING FROM SILENCE: Contemplative Practice for Writers

with JUANITA ROCKWELL
FOR 2021, 2 NEW 2-DAY VERSIONS OF THIS ONLINE WORKSHOP WILL BE OFFERED MAY 15-16 & AND JULY 10-11, WITH AN ADVANCED TRAINING JULY 18-19.  More info coming soon.
The world is begging us to find new ways of being together, being in the world, being creative, being with ourselves. In this online workshop, you will learn contemplative practices of body, energy and mind, and how to integrate them with writing prompts structured to undo restrictive habits of writing and thinking. Together, these new habits can become a daily practice of access to the stillness and
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FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance

FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance

with GERARD STROPNICKY, Co-Founder, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble
Dates TBA
Why do some stories – some performances – spark your imagination, set fire to your soul, and leave you transformed, while others just sit there? Is it the content, or the telling? The framing, or the style? Can story be employed to bring laughter, or tears, or understanding, or lasting social change, or…
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2020 Season2021-02-25T13:47:12-05:00

2019 Season

2021-02-25T13:21:58-05:00

ko-festival-amherst-ma

From Artistic Director, Sabrina Hamilton

In the summer of 2019  we had 5 weeks of performances curated on the theme of “HABITAT (human).” We were thinking about transplants, displaced persons & the effects of sudden habitat change. About endangered & vanished cultures. About cracking open the past by re-examining the habitat one grew up in. Entertaining & thought-provoking, it was all original work – created by the artists who came to us from across the US.
And for those who wanted to get their own creative juices flowing — we had 3 exciting 6-day workshops.

PERFORMANCES

THE LAST RAT OF THERESIENSTADT • July 5 & 6 at 8pm; July 7 at 4pm

THE LAST RAT OF THERESIENSTADT • July 5 & 6 at 8pm; July 7 at 4pm

Lead Writer/Performer/Deviser: HILARY CHAPLAIN & Company
A show about a Weimar cabaret star who finds herself transplanted from Berlin to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. There she forges an unlikely friendship with Pavel, a rat (played by a puppet) who, despite the lack of food that has driven away the rest of his kind, remains out of love for her and her art...
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OK, OK • July 12 & 13 at 8pm; July 14 at 4pm

OK, OK • July 12 & 13 at 8pm; July 14 at 4pm

created and performed by KATIE PEARL
OK, OK is a performance reckoning with the racism of today through the lens of what Katie Pearl learned—and didn't learn—about Oklahoma history while growing up in her native habitat of Tulsa, OK. Performed by Pearl with an ensemble of four, OK, OK weaves together personal biography and civic narrative to crack open closed surfaces and get at what’s underneath. Hilarious, heartbreaking and...
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KoFest STORY SLAM 2019 • Saturday, July 20 at 8pm

KoFest STORY SLAM 2019 • Saturday, July 20 at 8pm

WE ARE CLOSE TO SELLING OUT & ARE NO LONGER SELLING TICKETS ONLINE! PLEASE CALL THE BOX OFFICE RE. LIMITED AVAILABILITY. (413) 542-3750. You’ve heard of poetry slams – competitive poetry events. This is one is for first person, true stories – told live and without notes, 5 minutes or less — and on the theme of “HABITAT (human)” A benefit to keep Ko going strong, this event typically sells out, so reservations are highly recommended, and if you've got a story to tell . . .
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SPECIAL ALL AGES EVENT: The Mettawee River Theatre Company in THE RING DOVE • Sunday, July 21 at 8pm

SPECIAL ALL AGES EVENT: The Mettawee River Theatre Company in THE RING DOVE • Sunday, July 21 at 8pm

BECAUSE OF THE EXTREME HEAT WE ARE MOVING THIS PERFORMANCE TO THE AIR-CONDITIONED HOLDEN THEATER. RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED. Directed by RALPH LEE, this allegorical tale about friendship it is drawn from THE PANCHATANTRA, a collection of stories whose origins reach back over 2,000 years, to ancient India.  The production will incorporate an array of giant figures, puppets, and masks and will be performed out under the stars in a landscape permeated with live music, song and a spirit of celebration...
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(dis)Place[d] • July 26 & 27 at 8pm; July 28 at 4pm

(dis)Place[d] • July 26 & 27 at 8pm; July 28 at 4pm

A fool'sFURY production, written and performed by DEBÓRAH ELIEZER. Directed by BEN YALOM
This show integrates video, movement and song to crack open Debórah's assumptions about her own identity through the story of her father, Edward Ben-Eliezer, an Iraqi Jew born in 1930, a member of the Zionist underground, a refugee, an Israeli spy, and an immigrant to America. The result: a multilayered experience about the nature of home, the politics of place and the claiming of...
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LESSONS OF HUMANITY • August 2 & 3 at 8pm; August 4 at 4pm

LESSONS OF HUMANITY • August 2 & 3 at 8pm; August 4 at 4pm

Created and performed by SAMITE
A performance tailor-made by Samite to fit KoFest's 2019 season theme of "HABITAT: human" using a rich blend of traditional African music and personal stories that draw on his own experience of war in Idi Amin’s Uganda, and his life as a refugee who finds his new home in rural upstate New York to be a place from which he can...
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2019 WORKSHOPS

TOY THEATER

TOY THEATER

with JOHN BELL & TRUDI COHEN
Great Small Works
July 8-13, 2019
Participants will be shown basic techniques and materials used in Toy Theater (also known as Paper Theater). After discussing image and text selection and dramaturgy, our workshop will offer a chance to construct a toy theater stage and scenery and figures, and to put together a multi-scene story...
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FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance 2019

FIRST PERSON: Crafting Your Story for Performance 2019

with GERARD STROPNICKY, Co-Founder, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble
July 15-20, 2019
Why do some stories – some performances – spark your imagination, set fire to your soul, and leave you transformed, while others just sit there? Is it the content, or the telling? The framing, or the style? Can story be employed to bring laughter, or tears, or understanding, or lasting social change, or…
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UNLOCKING INSPIRATION: The Vital Act

UNLOCKING INSPIRATION: The Vital Act

with DEBÓRAH ELIEZER
Co-Artistic Director foolsFURY Ensemble
July 29-Aug. 3, 2019
This fun, participatory workshop will explore embodied creation methods that will remove your inner critic and allow your uninhibited creativity to flow. Through free writing, movement meditation, kinetic storytelling and vocal improvisation, we will unlock inspiration, discover untold stories and turn the idea of narrative on its head...
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2020 Season2021-02-25T13:47:12-05:00

SPECIAL ALL AGES EVENT: The Mettawee River Theatre Company in THE RING DOVE • Sunday, July 21 at 8pm

2020-03-03T10:20:34-05:00
SPECIAL ALL AGES EVENT: The Mettawee River Theatre Company in THE RING DOVE • Sunday, July 21 at 8pm2020-03-03T10:20:34-05:00