Theatre Premieres in L.A.

Presented by the CalArts Entertainment Group
7:00 PM: Talk

8:30 PM: Networking Reception

Don Cheadle (BFA Acting ’86) has continued to challenge audiences with compelling performances in film and television, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance in Hotel Rwanda, a Best Supporting Actor Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics for Devil in a Blue Dress and a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA nomination for Crash.

In addition to his acting, Cheadle has been committed to international humanitarian causes, co-founding Not On Our Watch to end genocide in Darfur. In 2007, he received a Summit Peace Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and a BET Humanitarian Award for his work in Darfur and Rwanda. In 2010, he was named Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations. He has been a supporter of the International Rescue Committee relief organization and the Enough Project, working to end crimes against humanity.

At this intersection of art and politics, Cheadle has explored both narrative and documentary storytelling to engage audiences in critical social discourse—from the ravages of the Vietnam War in Hamburger Hill, to racial injustice in A Lesson Before Dying and Rosewood, to genocide in Darfur Now. Currently, he is appearing in Showtime’s House of Lies and developing a new project he has co-written.

Date(s) & Time(s):
Tuesday, May 8 | 7:00 pm

Tickets: 
$10 general; Free for students and alumni

Location:
REDCAT | Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Phone:
213 237-2800 

Website:
www.redcat.org

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DIRECT URL: 
http://www.redcat.org/event/calarts-entertainment-group-don-cheadle

“Da’ Hip Hop Wizzard of Oz” hits the stages of the West Angeles Performing Arts Theatre (3020 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles) on May 19, 2012 at 3PM & 7PM, and the El Portal Theatre (5269 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood) on July 21, 2012 at 3PM & 7PM. Ticket Admission Prices: PRESALE…$15-Child (Ages 2-12)/$25-Adult, AT DOOR…$20-Child/$30-Adult. May purchase tickets online at www.lqspac.org.

“Da’ Hip-Hop Wizzard of Oz” is an original play written by Ms. LaQuette Milner. The actual production of “Da’ Hip-Hop Wizzard of Oz” is an extension of LQ’s Performing Arts Center (LQ’s Productions); in which, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that has been in existence since 2004.  “Da’ Hip-Hop Wizzard of Oz” is an original modernized version of the classic story of “The Wizard of Oz.”  This production is a full-length stage play; better described as a “dancial”- which is a production that is told through dance, movement, music, singing, and acting. Because “Da’ Hip-Hop Wizzard of Oz” is just loosely based on “The Wizard of Oz,” it holds its own identity; which allows it to grow and expand on its own.

 ”Da’ Hip-Hop Wizzard of Oz” sheds new light and brings outstanding creativity to an old idea. This show has a wonderful storyline and is able to captivate the audience with its power messages, entertaining songs, and high energy dancing. This production is a “family-friendly” event and is appropriate for ALL AGES.

Play Synopsis: Dorothy is your average teenager, wanting to become a star. But, for some reason, she experiences great opposition from everyone around her. It is only when she gets swept away to this mysterious Hip-Hop infused Land of Oz, where she’s able to build the confidence she needs to follow her dreams. Dorothy and her friends (the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Lion) travel through the Land of Oz in hopes of gaining the things that they lack from the GREAT WIZZard of Oz. But the GREAT WIZZard of Oz will not grant any of their wishes unless Dorothy kills the Evil Wicked Witch of the Westside, Ms. Evilbean, and retrieve the Book of Dance. In figuring out what Dorothy is going to do, the audience is taken through this 2-hour long story of courage, trials, struggle, strife, jealously, enlightenment, and triumph-all told through dancing, acting, movement, and music.

Da Hip Hop Wizzard of Oz Press Kit

“An astute cabaret of insight and satire…worthy of Voltaire.” LA Weekly

With knowing humor and carefully considered allusion, My Barbarian’s ongoing interdisciplinary Post-Living Ante-Action Theater (PoLAAT) project interrogates counterculture theatrical forms and translates them into slyly subversive music-theater of the moment. The irreverent Los Angeles trio of Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon and Alexandro Segade collaborates with a team of local performers to workshop and stage a new production using the five principles they have established for PoLAAT: Estrangement, Indistinction, Suspension of Beliefs, a Mandate to Participate, and Inspirational Critique. The resulting new performance, Post-Paradise, Aren’t You Sorry Now?, is part happening and part variety show, employing improvisation, audience participation and the staging of social taboo with reference to both the Living Theater’s utopian Paradise Now (1968) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s nihilistic critical response Pre-Paradise, Sorry Now (1969).

Using PoLAAT as a pedagogical model for working with a large group of artists to create theater that is as much about the process of collaboration as it is about grappling with a history of radical leftist theatrical and artistic production, My Barbarian has developed projects in Egypt, Italy, Lithuania, Spain and elsewhere in the U.S. In Los Angeles, with scripted and improvised theatrical scenes woven through a series of songs, games and actions, Post-Paradise, Aren’t You Sorry Now? explores a range of contemporary and historical issues, including reproductive rights, health care and President Obama’s life story, with segues through the Spanish Civil War, Communist China and the fall of Troy. 

Dates | Times
Saturday April 14 | 8:30pm
Sunday April 15 | 7:00pm

Prices:
$10-$20

Go to Site:
http://www.redcat.org/event/my-barbarian

The Sweet & Hot Music Foundation & Living Legend Foundation Presents….

The Living Legends Jazz Series

“Honoring our History, while educating our Future”

Thursday, April 26, 2012 (Jazz Appreciation Month)

Honoring Al williams, Merle Krebich & Henry Skipper Franklin

Regency West Supper Club

3339 W. 43rd St.

Los Angeles, CA 90008

(Historic Leimert Park)

Early arrival strongly suggested!

Food served from 6:00pm-6:45pm

Show 7:00pm - 11pm

Full Bar will be provided for your libations

This event is a FUNDRAISER For The Sweet & Hot Music Foundation, We are a 501 (C) (3) Organization

$20 donation in advance is required and can be purchased by “Reserving Your seat” by calling Linda 562-762-6441

or $25 donation at door!