Performing Arts: Page 59

2014 Holiday Happenings

Performing Arts

Friday, Nov. 21 Fern Ridge & Veneta Annual Holiday Bazaar, food and crafts by local artisans, 10am-7pm today and 10am-4pm Nov. 22, 541-935-8443. Maude Kerns presents “Art for All Seasons” exhibit, Nov. 21 – Dec. 19, Opening Reception Nov. 21, 6-8pm, Maude Kerns Art Center, 1910 E. 15th Ave., 345-1571. FREE. Annie, 7:30pm, Nov. 21, 22, 28, 29 & Dec. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20; 2pm brunch matinees, Nov. 30 & Dec. 7, Actors Cabaret of Eugene, 996 Willamette St., 683-4368. $16-$42.95.   Saturday, Nov. 22 Continue reading →

Save the last dance for Emery Blackwell

Dance
Emery Blackwell

Emery Blackwell, 55, dancer, choreographer, musician, composer and teacher, retires from 25 years with DanceAbility International this fall. A giant figure in the local dance scene and a representative of disability rights around the globe, Blackwell will perform onstage one last time with his longtime dance partner Alito Alessi, as part of Vanessa Martin’s Xcape Dance Company’s premiere piece, Love! Continue reading →

Love! Is All You Need

Dance
Vanessa Martin (front) with Xcape Dance company

Lots of little kids take a dance class or two, but most won’t make a career of it. Sometimes, however, a special child comes along who has the talent and drive, along with the family support needed, to keep investing in dance for a lifetime. Choreographer Vanessa Martin was one of those lucky kids, who had big aspirations and a parent to back her up.  Continue reading →

The New Hansel and Gretel

The Fringe Festival’s Constance & Sinestra gets an Oregon premiere at LCC

Theater
Anna Parks (LEFT) as Constance and Naomi Todd as Sinestra with Tilese Haight as Dead Mum

When the new musical Constance & Sinestra and the Cabinet of Screams premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the summer of 2011, Lane Community College student Anna Parks happened to catch a performance of the quirky show. Parks later brought the idea of presenting the offbeat musical to LCC’s Student Production Association, and after clearing sizeable hurdles to secure the rights to the play, the LCC theater will be among the first venues outside of the UK to debut this darkly twisted fairy tale.  Continue reading →

Peter Pan (Jr.) Flies Again

Rose Children’s Theatre takes us back to Never Never Land, Disney style

Theater
Adriana Ripley plays Tinker Bell in Rose Children Theater’s Peter Pan Jr.

Who can resist a story that starts with a trio of children flying out the bedroom window to a land where you never grow up? Add a fearsome, hook-handed sea captain and a mischievous fairy, and you are solidly in the grasp of the marvelous adventure of Peter Pan, a version of which — Disney’s Peter Pan Jr. — opens Friday, Nov. 7, at Churchill High School under the auspices of Rose Children’s Theatre.  Continue reading →

The Powerful Play Goes On

Theater
Jonathan Thompson and Liv Burns in OCT’s I and You

As perhaps Eugene’s foremost purveyor of new theatrical works, artistic director Craig Willis at Oregon Contemporary Theatre (OCT) is a tireless advocate of the hidden gem, the offbeat barnburner, the unfamiliar fandango. For Willis, the hunt is always on. He spends many a weekend traveling hither and yon along the coast — to Portland, to Seattle — attending table reads and walk-throughs of new plays, all in dogged pursuit of something fresh and lively for audiences here in town. Continue reading →