Arts & Life

Details

Written by: Editor

Published: 28 January 2015

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Local writers take note: there’s never been a better opportunity to try your hand at play writing.

Mendocino College is currently seeking short plays by local authors to be produced on campus this spring.

The new semester is under way at the college, and one of the most exciting events of the college’s spring theater season is the annual Festival of New Plays.

Once again, theater professor Reid Edelman will use short plays written by local authors to teach directing and acting students about the joys and challenges of working with new scripts.

These plays will be produced in the college’s annual festival at the end of the semester.

This production of student-written scripts is now in its 12th year, and the event has become a highlight of the college’s annual theater season.

For the past eleven years, Edelman has worked with English instructor and playwright Jody Gehrman to find and develop student-written plays.

Anybody residing in Lake, Sonoma or Mendocino counties is eligible to submit an original play.

“We clearly have an abundance of talented writers in this area,” said Gehrman, “but only a small percentage of them even think about writing a play. Playwrights aren’t born, they’re coerced by people like us to try it once. After seeing their work produced, most become addicted; it’s a tremendous high to sit in a theater and watch your ideas come to life.”

The deadline for submissions is Valentine’s Day, Saturday, Feb. 14.

There are no limitations in terms of theme or content, but small casts (two to five characters) and minimal technical requirements are recommended for optimal chances at production.

Scripts should have a running time of no longer than 10 minutes. Electronic submissions should be saved as PDF files.

For more information or to submit your play, contact Jody Gehrman, 707-468-3150 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

You also can mail your play to 1000 Hensley Creek Road, Ukiah, CA 95482.

Details

Written by: Editor

Published: 27 January 2015

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Soper Reese Theatre is presenting a special concert celebrating 1920s and 1930s Italian café music and the beautiful sound of the mandolin.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, at the theater, 275 S. Main St. in Lakeport. 

Headliners, the Hot Frittatas, deliver a concoction of classical and contemporary roots music from Spain, Italy, France, South America and Mexico, with waltzes, tangos, polkas, musettes, tarantellas and marches all performed with style and vivacity.

This Northern California group, including Lake County local Don Coffin, has played on National Public Radio and written music for “The Bachelor” TV series.

Opening for the Hot Frittatas is the Gravenstein Mandoln Ensemble hailing from the Santa Rosa area.

The group plays a wide variety of mandolin music from the classical repertoire, Brazilian Choro music, Italian Ballo Liscio, Klezmer music and contemporary music.

Tickets are $20 for single seats at a table; $18 center Loge and $15 side Loge.

Tickets are now on sale at www.soperreesetheatre.com ; at the theater box office, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fridays or up to two hours before the show; and at The Travel Center, 1265 S. Main St., Lakeport, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For more information call 707-263-0577.

Details

Written by: Ted Kooser

Published: 25 January 2015

Kwame Dawes is the editor of Prairie Schooner and one of my colleagues at the University of Nebraska. Had I never had the privilege of getting to know him I still would have loved the following poem, for its clear and matter-of-fact account of a sudden loss.

Coffee Break

It was Christmastime,
the balloons needed blowing,
and so in the evening
we sat together to blow
balloons and tell jokes,
and the cool air off the hills
made me think of coffee,
so I said, “Coffee would be nice,”
and he said, “Yes, coffee
would be nice,” and smiled
as his thin fingers pulled
the balloons from the plastic bags;
so I went for coffee,
and it takes a few minutes
to make the coffee
and I did not know
if he wanted cow’s milk
or condensed milk,
and when I came out
to ask him, he was gone,
just like that, in the time
it took me to think,
cow’s milk or condensed;
the balloons sat lightly
on his still lap.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2013 by Kwame Dawes, “Coffee Break,” from Duppy Conqueror: New and Selected Poems, (Copper Canyon Press, 2013). Poem reprinted by permission of Kwame Dawes and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.