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Events

Unknown In March, a woman came to Telluride to talk about her son. One person in particular did more than listen. Jen Julia, director of Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater company, followed Mary Shepard's example turning words into action. On Wednesday, May 12, 6 p.m., members of the SAF Young People's Theater high school acting group, Julia's "company," perform a staged reading of "The Laramie Project,"  a play based on the events surrounding the murder of Judy's son Matthew Shepard.

On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard was discovered bound to a fence in the hills outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die, an act of brutality and hate that shocked the nation. Judy Shepard's response was to turn personal tragedy into an international crusade, creating The Matthew Shepard Foundation to promote tolerance and diversity. Moises Kaufman & Co. created a play to honor Matthew's memory and advocate justice for all.
10 May, 2010 /
5-10 TFF poster Telluride Film Festival Cinematheque, a collaboration between the internationally renowned Telluride Film Festival and the five-star Wilkinson Public Library, is a vehicle for film lovers in the greater Telluride community to watch and discuss great films year 'round. Thanks to programming genius of Festival co-director Gary Meyer, the grand finale of the winter season in the "All About Food" series is the critically acclaimed "Big Night," (1996, 107 minutes). The event takes place Monday, May 10, 5:30 p.m. for the pre-show reception and 6 p.m. for the screening.

"Big Night" is a delicious tale of mouthwatering food and boiling passions. The story is built around a belt-popping pig-out at a Jersey trattoria which can't get no respect. The engaging dramedy revolves around two brothers in the pursuit of the American Dream.

09 May, 2010 /

Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts's Visiting Artists program, one of the many gems in the wide-ranging curriculum, is a magnet, drawing students to town from all over the country as well as locals.Ceramicist Diana Fayt teaches "Nature on the Surface," June 4...

05 May, 2010 /

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Nick Day & Jennie Franks

This summer, the Telluride Repertory Theatre Company celebrates 20 years of providing staged entertainment to the Telluride community.  As part of their summer celebration, the Rep is teaming up with the Telluride Playwrights Festival (TPF) to produce an exciting staged production of Philip Gerson’s new play “This Isn’t What It Looks Like.”  Nicholas Day of the Telluride Playwrights Festival and Great Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre Company directs a cast of local talent. The opening is July 15 at Telluride's Palm Theater.

“This Isn’t What It Looks Like” is part of a summer of “Made In Telluride” performing arts, which includes the Telluride Playwrights Festival showcase performances, July 11 and 12, and the Rep's "Shakespeare in the Park"  starting August 18. The Telluride Playwrights Festival and the Telluride Rep look forward to offering a great line-up of summer theatre.

04 May, 2010 /
The 32nd annual Mountainfilm Festival will be the biggest ever with more venues in operation, more special guests and more programming. Festival Director David Holbrooke describes Mountainfilm as thriving.
 
“We are particularly excited about the festival this year,” he says. “We have a very strong and varied lineup of films, speakers and artists. We have accomplished mountaineers like Ed Viesturs and Conrad Anker, but we also have artists like Maya Lin and Chris Jordan. We have environmental activists like Dave Foreman and Tim DeChristopher but we also have civil rights activists with two Freedom Riders coming to town.”
 
Among the films to screen in Telluride at the end of May, Holbrooke highlighted the following as examples of Mountainfilm’s depth and diversity:
02 May, 2010 /

Featuring presenters drawn from science, industry, arts and the media, and in keeping with the International Year of Biodiversity, Mountainfilm launches its 32nd annual Festival on Friday, May 28, with an in-depth look at species extinction.

“We are living in the sixth major extinction on this planet and the first one to be caused by humans,” says Festival Director David Holbrooke. “The statistics are staggering. We’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-off since the loss of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It’s estimated that a species dies off every 20 minutes. Some scientists predict that between 30 and 50 percent of all species will be extinct by mid-century. E.O. Wilson says that biodiversity is the key to life on this planet and that its collapse is the biggest threat we are facing.”

Noting he is still waiting to confirm several symposium presenters, Holbrooke says he is delighted with the depth of expertise he has already locked in.

30 April, 2010 /
Poster The Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater in Telluride, under the direction of Jen Julia, presents its third full-length musical, performed by a cast of 27 young locals, grades 3 – 5. Performances are April 30 – May 2, 6 p.m. ( one hour with intermission).

Hansel & Gretel is a fairy tale of German origins, made famous by the Brothers Grimm. The story follows a young brother and sister, who discover a Gingerbread house filled with candy in the forest, the home of a child-eating wicked old witch. The Grimm version differs from the original in one fundamental plot twist: there was no evil stepmother. It was the children's own mother who convinced the father to abandon his offspring in the woods, a not unknown practice during crisis such as famine, war, plague, pestilence of the late Middle Ages. The change was to smooth feathers in a society not able to conceive of a mother forsaking her own babes.
29 April, 2010 /

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180 South

From over 600 submissions, Mountainfilm has whittled its 2010 official film selections down to roughly 75, a process that Festival Director David Holbrooke says was a "particular challenge" because there were so many strong films. 
 
“As always, we have a wide range of films on a dizzying array of subjects from exploration to environmentalism to ecstasy (the drug). Having to pick and choose what makes the most sense for us, what best connects or contrasts with our themes and sub-themes, is really tough. Saying ‘no’ to strong films and talented filmmakers is just hard, no two ways about it.”
 
However difficult the decision-making process, Holbrooke says he is excited by the quality and diversity of this year’s picks.

28 April, 2010 /
Renate.suction The American Academy of Bookbinding and the Ah Haa School present a talk by Renate Mesmer of the Folger Shakespeare Library: “The Folger Shakespeare Library and the Preservation of Books.” The talk with accompanying slides is scheduled for Thursday, April 29, 6:30 p.m. in the East Room of the Ah Haa School’s Depot Building.

Renate Mesmer is in Telluride teaching book conservation classes at the American Academy of Bookbinding. She works at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, where she is Assistant Head of Conservation.
28 April, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Elaine Fischer talk about Mark]

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Mark & Elaine

April is the month for uniquely talented people throughout the country and in Telluride, people who tend to think outside the box, march to their own drum, and find unique modes of self-expression.

April is National Autism Month and National Poetry Month.

Telluride's Autism Behavioral and  Consultation Team (now a state-mentored Model Autism Team) headed my Occupational Therapist/Yoga instructor Annie Clark has been busy muscling up its protocols and programs. And Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities and Talking Gourds are pleased to announce the 13th annual Mark Fischer Poetry Prize Award Ceremony and Poetry Reading. The event takes place Tuesday, April 27, at Telluride's award-winning Wilkinson Public Library.
27 April, 2010 /