Friday night, May 15, a cast of Telluride teenagers earned a standing ovation at the end of their performance of "Audition" at the Sheridan Opera House. Teenagers playing (mostly) teenagers, dressed as teenagers, dealing with teenagers' concerns and without sets: it was a great evening....
[Editor's note: Click the "play" button to listen to Telluride Mountainfilm guest Chef Ann Cooper talk about why she thinks the National School Lunch Program needs major tweaking and what she and others are doing to address the challenge.]
What's wrong with this picture?
While legions of parents are obsessing about whether their offspring are getting enough vitamins or consuming too much sugar and salt, as they are trying in growing numbers to encourage healthy eating habits, at school millions of kids are consuming French fries, processed chicken nuggets and syrupy fruit salad, standard fare on the average commodity-driven lunch menu.
According to Chef Ann Cooper, aka "Renegade Lunch Lady," the National School Lunch Program is an antique – it was launched in 1946 as a public safety net – in dire need of recycling. She contends we won't have much hope for future generations of healthy kids unless we begin teaching them what good food really is.
No doubt we will all say we knew her when. Graduating Telluride senior Alexis Cruzzavala is an exceptional young woman.
Seven years ago, when we first met, Alexis was only 11 and doing a bit part in the Telluride Repertory Theatre's production of "Romeo and Juliet." Even then, she stood out from the crowd: not just smart, she was also articulate, and poised beyond her years. When the conversation turned to acting, she gushed like a broken dam.
Alexis went on to perform in no fewer than eight of director Jen Julia's always memorable productions. She nearly stole the show in her most recent role, "Marty," the Lolita wannabe in "Grease." She stars in the SAFYPT's upcoming "The Audition."
[click "Play" button to hear Clint's conversation with Cosy Sheridan] There are lots of things happening at Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library. This time Scott Doser, program director at the library, has laid on a weekend of workshops plus a...
(editor's note: We did get the video uploaded, finally, so take another look.)
The play's not the thing. "The Audition" is simply a vehicle for a talented group of Telluride teens. Watching them in rehearsal, it was obvious how much they love and respect their longtime director, Jen Julia, and how much they enjoy one another and strutting their stuff on the boards.
"Closing night of Grease, the kids said, 'We want more,' and so I began searching scripts that met the following criteria: Kids would play kids as they had in 'Grease,' and get to work with material with some dramatic grit, something they could sink their teeth into," explained Jen.
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Sarah Klein]
Forget to make a brunch reservation on this special day and you wind up in the Seventh Circle of Hell. In Telluride, as in the best of all possible worlds, Mother's Day would be everyday. The Hallmark Card model of the holiday is a set-up, a guilt trip, that should, I believe, go the way of the Hummer. [click "Play" button to hear TNCC's Colleen Trout and CSU Extension horticulturist Yvette Henson]
Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library to host forest health workshop, Friday, May 8
Poet Ogden Nash wrote poems that amounted to bite size op ed pieces inveighing against society's shortsightedness. The one about loss of trees due to commercialism goes like this:
"I think that I shall never see
A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.
(from "Song of the Open Road," 1933)
The Telluride Public School's production of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" is being performed May 7-9 at 6:30 pm, and a 1:30 matinee, Sunday, May 10 at the Michael D. Palm Theatre.
The play is directed by Angela Watkins with musical direction by Dr. David Lingle.
Trio Solisti is the founding ensemble of the Telluride Musicfest, this year June 25 – July 5, and featuring world renowned composer Philip Glass as Composer-in-Residence. "Telluride Inside...
BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival (September 4-7, 2009), presented by National Film Preserve, Ltd. announces its call for entries.Student film submissions must be received no later than 5:00 pm, July 1, 2009. Short and Feature film submissions must be received no later than 5:00...
