Events

 Come one, come all to the greatest show on earth. But it is not your mother's Ringling Bros. Or Cirque.

Thanks to a big thumbs up by Telluride Inside.... and Out's regular Denver writer Tracy Shaffer, last night we all headed with our family to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to catch a performance of "Traces," a production of  "7 Fingers." The evening proved beyond a shadow of doubt that "7" is a very  lucky number.

"7 Fingers" (for the seven founding members of "Les 7 Doigts de La Main" or "the seven fingers of the hand") is Everyman's circus, eschewing elaborate and fanciful Big Tent production values to create circus on a human scale  –  but with a sexy urban edge.

[click "Play" to hear Brandt Garber's conversation with Susan]

 

 

Cinematheque poster "It's A Gift" to Telluride. And there are lots of folks to thank.

Cinematheque, a free film club, is an ongoing collaboration between the Telluride Film Festival and the Wilkinson Public Library. The series is programmed by Telluride Film Festival co-director/historian Gary Meyer.

The current series, covering films from the Great Depression, explored the ways in which cinema served as a valuable medium for social commentary, as well as an emotional release during an extremely trying (and historically relevant) chapter in U.S. history. The fourth and final installment of Films of the Great Depression for Winter 2011 is a double feature: "It's A Gift" (1934,68 min.) and "Duck Soup" (1933, 68 min.) The event takes place in the Program Room of the Library on Monday, April 4, starting at 5:30 p.m. for the pre-SHOW reception. Telluride Film Festival Production Manager and film buff Brandt Garber is Ringmaster.

[click "Play", Susan speaks with registrar/marketing assistant Kate Laird]     Spring, the season of birth and growth all around the world, has a whole other connotation in Telluride. Here, Spring marks the end of ski season and the beginning of...

[click "Play" for Susan's interview with Lin Schorr]

 

 

Mosaic art for auction kicker: Bidding helps doctors on the ground in Japan

Telluride local  and mosaic artist Flair Robinson, a regular instructor at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, is part of a group of artists participating in an online auction to benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose extraordinary efforts have been showcased in the past locally at Mountainfilm in Telluride.

note: to hear Elaine Fischer's talk about the man and the prize, follow this link: /2010/04/mark-fischer-poetry-award-at-tellurides-wilkinson-public-library-427.html

Started by former Telluride Arts (Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities) director and Talking Gourds Grand Poobah Art Goodtimes in 1997 and sustained by Mark’s widow Elaine Fischer and the Fischer family, the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize is named in the memory of Telluride’s much-loved poet, lawyer, skier and raconteur.

telluride.arts now invites submissions to the 13th annual Mark Fischer Poetry Prize.

Extended List of Activists, Artists and Adventurers Includes Tim DeChristopher, Greg
Mortenson 
 

Tim DeChristopher
Tim DeChristopher

In keeping with the 2011 Moving Mountains Symposium theme of “Awareness into Action,” Mountainfilm in Telluride announced a series of special guests that Festival Director David Holbrooke says, “have all committed their lives to rolling up their sleeves and making a serious difference in the world.” Holbrooke added that he hopes their example will “not only inspire our audiences but also provide a clear road map for how they can get involved as well.”
 
Not everyone will follow in the footsteps of Tim DeChristopher, who was recently convicted by a federal court of making false bids on energy leases. But his presence at Mountainfilm this May, a month before his scheduled sentencing, will certainly help galvanize festival audiences. Tim will speak not only about the urgency of addressing global climate change but also why non-violent civil disobedience is so essential in these troubled times.

[click "Play" to hear Sasha's conversation with Susan]

 

Burlesque poster "Burlesque" is adult entertainment. No one under the age of 21 admitted.

Telluride's SquidShow Theatre is known for no-holds-barred entertainment. But the company's next production definitely pushes the envelope. And the hips...

Daring. Sexy. Scandelous. The words sum up Telluride's SquidShow Theatre's  latest show: "Burlesque." The first-time event, a fundraiser for the company, takes place Friday, March 25, 8 p.m., at the historic Sheridan Opera House.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Flair Robinson]

 

Flair Robinson Telluride local Flair Robinson is aptly named. She is a woman with a flair for art; her medium is the ancient art form of mosaic. On April 1, Flair joints a global group of mosaic artists who have generously donated 126 original works to an online auction to benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The bidding runs through April 27.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international humanitarian organization which unites direct medical care with a commitment to bearing witness to the plight of the people it assists. MSF includes a network of 27,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other qualified professionals who deliver emergency medical assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, or exclusion from health care in nearly 60 countries. The organization had boots on the ground in Haiti and is now active in Japan.

by Tracy Shaffer

Though the subject of Lynn Nottage's play Ruined might seem like a reason to stay away, the latest offering by Denver Center Theatre Company puts my recommendation in the 'run-don't-walk' category. I attended last night's first preview, so this is not an official review (nor am I a critic), but the powerful production deserves to be seen so I thrust myself out on a limb here to give you time to plan your evening.

Set in a cheery brothel in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, themes of violence, rape, genocide and the demoralizing exploitation of women, are balanced with a shocking levity that is testament to the human spirit.The entire cast is in fine form, led by the powerful performances of Kim Staunton and Harvey Blanks. There is an unmatched intimacy and ease between these two, having appeared together in Raisin in the Sun, Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean, The Madwoman to name a few. Tallia Brinson, Joy Jones and Daphne Gaines are exquisite as the women of the brothel whose stories lend the script its brutal core, while the band of soldiers are brutish and violent, the actors have miraculously managed to make them... well, charming would be going too far.