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September 2009
Culture Works closes 10 percent short
DAYTON — Despite a several-week extension, Culture Works has closed its 2009 campaign more than 10 percent short of the $1.7 million goal.
The Dayton area’s united arts fund reported Tuesday, Sept. 29, that it raised $1.52 million.
It will mark the end of its 34th annual drive Wednesday, Sept. 30, with a reception at The Loft Theatre, 126 N. Main St. Campaign chair Jon M. Sebaly will speak. The Dayton Opera and Human Race Theatre Company are scheduled to perform.
Proportionate reductions in allocations to the area’s major arts organizations and smaller groups are anticipated as a result. Largest recipients of Culture Works contributions include the Dayton Philharmonic, Dayton Opera, Dayton Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Human Race Theatre Company, Muse Machine and Cityfolk.
Sebaly said the drive, which opened Feb. 1, came closer to its target than the majority of other united arts fundraising campaigns year.
Positive outcomes included more than 1,500 first-time individual donors, 35 new corporate donors and 10 new workplace-giving sites.
More information about Culture Works is available at (937) 228-2787 or www.cultureworks.org.
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30 bands, 8 bars, 10 bucks
Thirty bands will play at eight bars on Saturday, Oct. 3 and $10 gets you entry to every one of them.
Dayton Music Fest boasts 30 bands, two-thirds of them from the Dayton area. The rest of them are bands who have played in the area or who organizers think will be well-received here, said Dan Clayton, co-founder of Dayton Music Fest.
“We bring a spotlight to local music in Dayton, what we have to offer and also it’s for some of the businesses downtown to get them involved and try to make it a happy marriage between the two,” he said.
In its fifth year, Dayton Music Fest started because organizers felt there was little knowledge of the indie bands beyond the 18-21 year age group.
Clayton said the goal of the festival is also to get the bands to work together, much in the same way arts groups in Dayton do.
“I think there’s a lot of really good stuff coming out of Dayton,” Clayton said. “If there’s anything critical point to out, it’d be that the bands aren’t working together as well in the past. I think right now it’s in a more ‘we’ll look our for ourselves and what’s best for us’ idea instead of coming together like other art groups in Dayton. “
How to go
Saturday, Oct. 3
Oregon District, downtown Dayton
Tickets are $10. Pay $10 and get a wristband that will get you into all venues all night.
For more information, DaytonMusicFest.com
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Free shuttle available for Oktoberfest visitors
RTA will offer shuttle service for revelers heading to Oktoberfest this weekend.
The free shuttle service will be available Saturday, September 26, and Sunday, September 27 to the Dayton Art Institute, where the festival will take place Saturday from noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 7 p.m.
The RTA shuttle will run directly to the DAI from Franco’s Restaurant, Fifth and Bainbridge, to the Dayton Art Institute. The route travels from Wayne Ave. to Fifth St. to Main St. to Second St. across the Salem Ave. bridge to Riverview to Belmonte Park and to the festival main entrance.
Look for Wright Flyer replica trolleys with destination signs and board at any stop along this route identified as “Oktoberfest.”
For more information, go to greaterdaytonrta.org.
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ScreenPeace Film Festival starts Oct. 4
The Dayton International Peace Museum will hold its annual ScreenPeace Film Festival, starting in October.
It will feature six movies, all of which offer a different perspective on peace.
Each film will be screened on a Sunday, first in the afternoon at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs and then in the evening at The Neon in Dayton.
Thomas Girvin, who spends 10 months every year organizing the event, said the event is first, intended to support the Peace Museum.
“We have the only peace museum in the country… People should be proud of that,” he said. “The ScreenPeace festival is here to support that.”
The films selected to be shown over the six-week period have different degrees and interpretations of peace, some coming from resolution after war, some representing personal forgiveness.
The last film screening session will include the works of area children from age elementary school to teen years.
“The final program is to see what students’ vision of peace is,” he said. “We always think of peace as geopolitical, but I have a feeling for a fourth grader peace might be not getting beat up on the playground.”
And as a graduate of the USC film school and a screenwriter himself, Girvin can’t help but discuss the true ‘film’ part of the film festival. Anyone could go rent a lot of the movies, but the big screen experience is important, he said.
“The peace themes in films is often a little more subtle than violence,” he said. “One needs to experience them in proper setting on the big screen to get the subtle nuances.”
Film schedule
Each film with be screened twice on Sundays. First at 12:30 p.m. at the Little Art Theatre in Yellow Springs; and second, at 7 p.m. at The Neon in Dayton.
The tickets series is $39 for all movies. Individual movies are $6.50.
Ticket order forms are available at ScreenPeace.org. The forms should be sent to Dayton International Peace Museum - ScreenPeace, 208 West Monument Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45402-3015. Or they can be ordered by phone at (937) 227-3223.
The movies are:
* Cry Freedom, Oct. 4: The story of black activist Stephen Biko and the white journalist who together worked to end to apartheid.
* Emerald Forest, Oct. 11: After cultures collide and environment is damaged, peace is the casual in a rain forest. It is based on a true story.
* David and Fatima, Oct. 18: The love story of an Israeli boy and Palestinian girl in present-day Jerusalem.
* To End All War, Oct. 25: The true story of a Bridge on the River Kwai POW camp, with a message of forgiveness.
* Hair, Nov. 1: The singing and dancing paean to the 1960s vision of peace, love and joy.
* ScreenPeace Student Film/Video Contest winners. Nov. 8:
Elementary, high school, and college students from Miami Valley portray their own concepts of peace.
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LGBT fest brings cinematographer home
The fourth annual LGBT Film Festival on Friday through Sunday, Sept. 25-27, at the Neon Movies, 130 E. Fifth St., will be a homecoming for Collin Brazzie.
The 2002 Chaminade-Julienne High School graduate, who grew up in Vandalia, was cinematographer on the short film “Last Call,” which will be part of the festival’s Saturday lineup.
“It was completed as part of my thesis. I grew up going to movies at the Neon, so having one play there is a real dream come true,” said the Los Angeles resident, who recently completed his MFA in film production/cinematography at Chapman University.
“Last Call” follows a man named Gavin who is trying to reconcile with a former lover when he is killed in a car accident. “In a purgatorial bar, he’s given a chance to look at three moments in his life without altering them,” Brazzie said.
It was his second collaboration with director Nick Corporon. “We are submitting it all over the world,” Brazzie said.
More information about the LGBT Festival is available at www.dayton lgbt.com.
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Free Day Saturday at Carillon Park
Thanks to Smithsonian magazine, museums around the country will be offering free admission on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009.
Locally, Carillon Historical Park will participate.
It’s the fifth annual event which last year attracted 200,000 nationally.
To gain free admission, visit www.smithsonian.com/museum day to download your Museum Day admission card. Attendees must present the Museum Day Admission Card to gain free entry to participating institutions.
Each card provides access for two people, and one card is permitted per household. To learn what museums are involved, check out www.smithsonian.com/museumday.
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Local ‘stars’ come out to dance
WHAT/WHEN/WHERE: When the Stars Come Out!, a dance competition and fundraiser, will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Dayton Convention Center Theater.
WHY ARE THEY CELEBRATING: The event raises money for PFLAG Dayton’s scholarships and operating funds for the Greater Dayton LGBT Center while commemorating National Coming Out Day.
WHAT’S IN STORE? is modeled after the popular TV show “Dancing With the Stars.” Couples learn their moves during weekly sessions with local dance instructor Johnny Glaze months before the event. The audience then selects the winning couple — by purchasing and casting their votes. Therefore, the couple who brings in the most votes also brings in the most money.Dayton Daily News columnist Amelia Robinson will serve as a celebrity judge.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE? “When the Stars Come Out! is fun and exciting because it’s different than anything LGBT organizations have done before in the Dayton area,” said Jan Couchman, event founder and PFLAG Dayton president. “The audience loved last year’s show. They were very supportive of the dancers and cheered them on.”
HOPING TO CLEAR? The group intends to give scholarships to students and hopes to clear $10,000 to fund them.
DRESS: It’s described as “dressy, casual” and Couchman says party-goers should wear whatever they feel comfortable in.
TICKETS: $25 and available at the door.
SPONSORS: MetLife, MJ’s Cafe, Club Aquarius, Square One Salon and Spa and ShirtDaddy.com.
FOR MORE INFO: Call Couchman at 248-8621.
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Classic Swayze at Dixie Drive-In this weekend
The Dixie Twin Drive-In Theatre plans to honor Patrick Swayze with a three-night showing of two of his best-known movies.
“Ghost” and “Road House” will be featured on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, Sept. 25-27.
At 8 p.m., the beloved movie, “Ghost” featuring Swayze, Demi Moore and the sexiest pottery wheel in screen history will be shown.
But at 10:20 p.m., the more rowdy “Road House” will be shown, highlighted by the classic line, “Pain don’t hurt.”
The drive-in owners will donate $1 of every adult ticket to the American Cancer Society in Swayze’s honor. Admission for those 13 and older is $7.50.
“We were saddened to hear of the passing of Patrick Swayze. We’ve admired his work and wanted to find a way to honor him”, stated Ryan Levin, Vice-President of Levin Service Company, owners of the drive-in. “The best way we can think of to honor his name and talent is to donate a portion of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society.”
But if classic movies from a silver screen icon aren’t your thing, the drive-in also is donating $1 per adult ticket from the features on Screen 2.
Screen 2 will feature 1998’s John Carpenter’s Vampires and the 1988 sci-fi classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
For recorded movie information please call 937-890-5513.
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Tony winner to work on new show here
Brian Yorkey, Tony Award-winning lyricist and author of the Broadway musical “Next To Normal,” will be working on his next show in Dayton.
Through its Musicals in Development program, The Human Race Theatre Company will host Yorkey and co-writers David Spangler and Jerry Taylor in a residency beginning in late September.
The show, “Play It By Heart,” is about a country music star battling her family and the changing music industry.
Human Race executive director Kevin Moore said the show has been produced previously, in Nashville. But members of the creative team have “moved on to other projects. This will be their first chance to get back together to work on the show, with hopes for a production in the near future.”
The Miriam Rosenthal Memorial Trust Fund is major sponsor for Musicals in Development. The Human Race has also received support from the Ohio Arts Council Arts Innovation Program and the Monarch Genesis Fund of The Dayton Foundation.
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Seed planted for new local theater
Former Dayton Playhouse executive director Adam Leigh is launching a new theater company along with his wife, Michelle Leigh.
The Seed Theatre Project will make its debut Nov. 6-7 with the local premiere of “Circumference of a Squirrel,” a one-man play by John Walch. Location will be the first floor of the Excelsior Building at 207 E. Sixth St. in the Oregon District.
Two other first-time local productions — “The Syringa Tree,” by Pamela Gien, and the musical “Floyd Collins,” by Tina Landau and Adam Guettel, will be part of the inaugural season. The fourth title will be the Henrik Ibsen classic “An Enemy of the People.”
Since stepping down at the Playhouse, Leigh, 29, has been working toward a master’s degree from Gonzaga University, has directed in the MAPP musical theater training program at Wright State University and taught theater at Stivers School for the Arts.
Seed grows out of two previous successful Leigh initiatives — Way Off Broadway at Wright State University and the Flip Side series at the Playhouse.
He will serve as executive artistic director. His wife, who is part of the technical and design staff at Town Hall Theatre in Washington Twp., will serve as director of operations/production manager. The couple lives in Kettering.
The new group’s mission will be to “utilize theater as a transformative agent” for individuals and the community, Leigh said.
For more information about the group, contact the directors at (937) 219-7835, adam@seedtheatreproject.org or michelle@seedtheatrreproject.org.
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Bookstore open late for release of ‘Da Vinci Code’ sequel
Area booksellers didn’t expect customers to be pounding at the doors when Dan Brown’s new novel, “The Lost Symbol,” went on sale at 12:01 a.m.
One local merchant, Border’s Books, Music and Movies on Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Miami Twp., did plan to stay open past midnight on Monday, Sept. 14, to meet immediate demand for the awaited sequel to Brown’s 2003 bestseller “The Da Vinci Code.”
“We’ll stay open until everyone who wants a copy right away has one,” general manager Steve Crafton said. “I’m guessing we’ll be open at least two hours.”
List price is $29.95, but early discounts were the norm.
Books and Company and Barnes & Noble stores said they would keep regular hours, but have been selling advance vouchers for the book.
“We’re well-stocked. I think we’ll be good into the Christmas-buying season,” said Sharon Kelly Roth, director of public relations for Books and Company’s stores at The Greene and Town and Country Shopping Center.
Most major book releases in recent years have been in the youth and teen categories.
“This is nowhere near a new Harry Potter book or the latest in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Series,” Crafton said. “But when it comes to a book for grownups, I can’t remember anything with more interest.”
Brown was signing copies of “The Da Vinci Code” at Books and Company in Kettering in 2003 when he learned it had reached number one on the New York Times Bestseller list. On the strength of advance sales, “The Lost Symbol” has topped Amazon.com’s list for a month already.
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‘Tenor’ an excellent opener for Human Race
There's no way an opera company factotum could convincingly masquerade as the world's most renowned tenor. Not even in Cleveland.
That's the hole at the center of Ken Ludwig's sturdy door-slamming 1989 comedy "Lend Me a Tenor," which nevertheless proved to be an excellent season opener for The Human Race Theatre on Friday, Sept. 11.
The reason why, when the two-act script is staged as well as Joe Deer has orchestrated it at The Loft, is because the play is a valentine to the art form it targets.
Love of opera flows through it, especially from the underlings who turn out to be some of the main characters — the assistant who dreams of being a singer and gets his chance, the young woman whose heart is vulnerable to a well-sung aria, and a bellhop who is truly a buff.
Their passion for music serves as a backbone for much well-played nonsense that almost leads to disaster at a gala music event in 1934 Cleveland.
Deer carried that through nicely by casting two men who can sing in roles that ought to require it — Richard Marlatt as the overeating, bosom-fixated, but stupendously gifted Italian tenor TIto Merelli and Aaron Vega as the nondescript Max, who's forced to go on due to a lot of stress an a few too many pills in Merelli's system.
The action is funny early and often. There's hardly a weak link in a cast that also includes Tim Lile as distraught opera manager Saunders, Claire Kennedy as his daughter, Maggie, who wants a fling before settling for Max; Deb Colvin-Tener as board president Julia, Caitlin Larsen as Merelli's fiery wife Maria, Allison Moody as well endowed soprano Diana and Jeff Newman as the singing bellhop.
But the chemistry in some scenes is notable, particularly those between Lile and Merelli or Lile and Max, the one where Merelli gives Max a voice lesson, those between Merelli and Maria, and the one in which Diana seduces Merelli.
The play would be just as funny and maybe even funnier with about 15 minutes less script. But Ludwig doesn't like to step aside when he's on a roll, or even when he's finished.
The curtain call is a compressed romp of the entire play all over again.
If you're looking for a good time, this will provide it.
If you've seen one of the previous local productions of "Lend Me a Tenor," this ranks as the best.
"Lend Me a Tenor" will continue through Sept. 27 at The Loft, 126 N. Main St. Tickets are $15.50-$36 at (937) 228-3630, (888) 228-3630 or www.ticketcenterstage.com.
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Data project links state arts groups
A new statewide system to help arts groups and other non-profit organizations measure and report on their progress made its debut on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
The Ohio Cultural Data Project was developed by a consortium of public and private funders and organizations including the Ohio Arts Council and Dayton’s Culture Works.
It gives potentially hundreds of Ohio arts organizations access to information-collection technology designed to strengthen management capacity and evaluate community impact.
The initiative should also streamline grant applications by encouraging the assembly of financial data that matches funders’ requirements. Comparison of numbers with other groups will also be facilitated.
By 2011, as many as 1,000 organizations will be participating in the project, which is patterned after one developed in Pennsylvania in 2004. It is also being used in California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York. The national Pew Charitable Trusts houses and administers the project for each state.
For more information about the Ohio Cultural Data Project visit www.ohculturaldata.org.
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