Fri. & Sat. July 13-14 at 8pm, Sunday July 15 at 1:30 pm PLEASE NOTE NON-STANDARD SUNDAY PERFORMANCE TIME! Written and performed by ILAN STAVANS Directed by MATTHEW GLASSMAN Lighting by SABRINA HAMILTON After a chance meeting with a shaman in Colombia, Ilan Stavans, the highly regarded literary scholar, found himself in the Amazon rainforest. He had reluctantly agreed to participate in a religious ceremony that involved taking the hallucinogen ayahuasca. Even though he considered himself a skeptic and a rational intellectual, as someone whose worldview was defined by his education and his heritage as a Mexican Jew, Stavans found that the ritual pushed him to reconsider many of his basic understandings, including his perceptions of indigenous cultures in Latin America, as well as his career as teacher, thinker, and artist. This one-act play is delivered in the form of a lecture that mimics the author’s startling spiritual journey.

BUZZ ON THE OVEN

"How does a mild-mannered scholar/writer/professor become a jaguar, kill and eat a deer? I got to witness Ilan Stavans’ re-immersion into what happened to him, telling and showing the audience his impulsive and, transformative journey into the dark Columbian night. He finished the performance shirtless and soaked with sweat. I drove home, filled with the knowledge that there are so many worlds in our world and “reality” is, indeed, a shifting and terrifying place. And how the theater, in the hands of a great story and good actor, can give reality a good shake."—Connie Congdon, author of Tales of the Lost Formicans

"Ilan Stavans’ wonderful The Oven is a daring reveal of his deep dive into another culture, told with humor, poignancy, and excitement. His self-effacement and emotional awareness pokes holes at academic stuffiness. He is fully in it, and brings his audience along on this spiritual journey both of the shamanic tradition he visits in Latin America and his own deep Jewish heritage."—Stacy Klein, founder and director, Double Edge Theatre

"Ilan Stavans is one of today’s most prolific shapers of Latinx letters, in his scholarly and creative work, and both are realized in this hybrid project. The Oven innovates in content and form. It offers a penetrating look behind the façade of our existence, in a non-appropriative way; Stavans is always conscious of his outsider/cosmopolitan status. It will certainly stimulate much critical and creative conversation and scholarship."—Frederick Luis Aldama, author of Long Stories Cut Short: Fictions from the Borderlands and editor of The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture

"A compelling piece of stagecraft that documents the inner and outer workings of a mind on a narcotic trip, but it also documents the uncanny and serendipitous curiosity of a literature professor."—William A. Nericcio, editor of Homer from Salinas: John Steinbeck’s Enduring Voice for California

Fri. & Sat. August 4 & 5 at 8pm.  Sun. August 6 at 7pm. (Note non-standard curtain time) Created by TEAM SUNSHINE PERFORMANCE CORPORATION and THE PHILLY PIGEON/JACOB WINTERSTEIN Directed at Ko by Alex Torra (Team Sunshine) With participation by KoFest artists, a secret lineup of local performers, and members of the Detroit ensemble A HOST OF PEOPLE In an era where facts don't seem to matter, in an area where fractious town meetings are the rule, and in a time when we have lost all sense of the humanity of those who disagree with us — we invite you to an evening of utter nonsense. What is it? The Society of Civil Discourse is an interactive night of debate, appreciation, hating and rhetorical excess. It’s  all about style, not substance. The event gives people a chance to have fun in community, with art at the center. Its an event where the line between performer and audience member gets blurred. You can come and quietly watch the entire night, or you might take us up on this opportunity to show off your best rhetorical skills. You might even be might tapped for the Great Debate that concludes the evening. But most of all, you'll have the opportunity to learn to love the people you argue passionately with. SO WHAT HAPPENS? The best way to understand is to watch this brief video: As you can see, the evening’s events will happen in several phases. Attendees get name tags and there is a brief period for mingling, beverages, after which all present are called to order and invited to become members of the fictitious SOCIETY OF CIVIL DISCOURSE.  After a brief and fun induction ceremony, audience members are invited to circulate between three or four different talking stations at their own pace.  At these stations your trained facilitators will guide you into a debate, gripe session, appreciation. You might defend an opinion: Pick a card with silly opposing views on it. Defend one.  You listen to others make noises of appreciation 0r disagreement. And at any time you can take a break to get a drink or a snack. THE FINAL PHASE IS THE GREAT DEBATE: Professional Argument Teams and a few outstanding audience members selected from Phase 1 engage in a 5 round debate over a secret topic. After choosing a team name there will be 5 debate rounds: Round 1: Opening Statements Round 2: Personal testimony Round 3: Fake statistics Round 4: Mime Round 5: Closing statements We invite you to watch, heckle, applaud and vote for the winners. The meeting of the Society of Civil Discourse is formally adjourned but you are invited to stay and hang with all the cool people you've just met — and argued passionately with.