Marsh Youth Theatre's Teen Troupe: Fears Of Your Life
The Marsh San Francisco Mainstage Theater (1062 Valencia St. San Francisco, CA 94110)
- Full Price:
- $12.00
- Our Price:
- $6.00*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for Fears Of Your Life have expired.
The last date listed for Fears Of Your Life was Sunday February 8, 2009 / 2:00pm.
Currently at The Marsh San Francisco Mainstage Theater:
Brian Copeland's New Solo Show The Waiting Period at The Marsh
- Full Price:
- $25.00
- Our Price:
- $12.50
The Marsh presents a workshop performance of Brian Copeland's new solo show, The Waiting Period. Copeland, a multi-talented actor, playwright, author and talk show host, has basked in the glow of both public and critical acclaim for nearly a decade. However, like many other well-known figures, he suffers from debilitating bouts of depression. This show gives an unrelenting look at a ten-day period in his life: the mandatory waiting period before he could lay hands on a new gun with which he planned to commit suicide. Even in the throes of such tragic plans, though, his sense of humor does not desert him (how much should he spend on the gun?), and in fact protects him from the grim reality of his intention. There is laughter in the darkness. Interspersed with interviews with other people suffering from depression, the play also offers outsiders an insider's view, thereby expanding the audience's understanding and, hopefully, humanity. Learn More
3 Goldstar Member Reviews
Dana
I thought it was really creative and the kids did a great job. It's an important topic for us to explore, especially children. I love that it was written by someone from the Creativity Explored place.Written on Feb 15 2009
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Goldstar Member
The raw material that this show is based on is so compelling. And expressing all kinds of fears, large and small, felt cathartic. The kids were confident and talented and brought it to life. I liked the group singing and the trapeze work the best. Sometimes the recitations got a little repetitive, and at times the dancing was distracting. All in all, a unique and stimulating evening!Written on Feb 03 2009
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Goldstar Member
Even though this was an amateur production,the puppets and set were inventive and it was earnest. I like seeing young people perform.Written on Feb 02 2009
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More Information About Fears Of Your Life
Description
Marsh Youth Theater (MYT) is proud to launch its first full-scale Teen Troupe production, Kim Epifano's critically acclaimed Fears of Your Life. Based on the book by Michael Bernard Loggins, an artist with developmental disabilities working at Creativity Explored, this multi-media production features dance music, theater, aerial dance, video and huge papier-mâché puppets to explore our relationship with the sometimes serious and often humorous things that scare us — from our tear ducts to our funny bone. The show, designed for audiences of all ages, integrates young performers with and without disabilities, and is performed on a stage transformed by Loggins' distinctive drawings into a vibrant and interactive world of art and animation, puppetry and song.
What is fear? How do we cope with it? How can we express it? Time bombs, monsters, speeding bus drivers, getting hugged by someone you don't like — these are some of the fears that stalk the stage in Fears of Your Life. The book and the play center on Loggins’ meticulously numbered and self-illustrated listing of everything that frightens him. From small, even humorous concerns (#36: Fear of dropping your soda as it hit the ground and fizz on you), to the dark, isolating terror of living with disability (#98: People are fearful of me which I wonder is they think that I'm all that terrible or I'm think that they think I'm not human at all because when they sit next to me then they get back up and move away), his honesty is bold, laugh-out-loud funny and heartbreaking. Epifano integrates the teens’ fears into the show and also invites audience participation. Entering the theater, audience members are encouraged to write their fears on large canvas scrolls and to explore the stage, which doubles as a gallery.
Epifano met Loggins at one of Creativity Explored’s art shows. At the time, she had just enrolled in an MFA program. Terrified of being a student again, she chose Loggins' book for her thesis and the show was born. A 25-year veteran of Bay Area dance, she is well known for "sonic dance theatre," a high-energy, genre-blending integration of dance, theatre, music and vocalization. Her work has been called "emotionally electrifying" by the SF Weekly and "a manifestation of energy" by the SF Bay Guardian. She is the creative force behind the annual San Francisco Trolley Dances, a free site-specific dance festival. For two decades, Epifano has co-directed (with Sally Davis) and toured internationally with the Mudd Butt Mystery Theatre Troupe from Telluride, Co. It was through this program, with Epifano and the Telluride Academy, that MYT’s Siddhartha traveled to Dharamsala, India in April 2008. It was on the way home from that production that Klion and Epifano came up with the idea of collaborating for MYT Teen Troupe’s first production.
Loggins lives with his family in San Francisco and takes the bus to Creativity Explored almost every day where he writes for hours, filling hundreds of notebooks with his thoughts and evocative drawings. He has been part of this extraordinary artistic community since its inception in 1982 and has exhibited at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Inside out Gallery, The SF Arts Commission Gallery, SOMARTS, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Southern Exposure and The Market Street Kiosks. His work has been shown nationally at the Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles and the Bronwyn Keenan Gallery in New York. Fears of Your Life, now in its third edition, has been featured on This American Life with Ira Glass and also in Harper's Magazine.
Creativity Explored is a nonprofit visual arts center in the Mission District where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell art. It was founded by Florence and Elias Katz on the principle that all people have the ability to create and that artistic expression is a viable means to self-growth. Many of its members, including Loggins, have established themselves as talented artists making significant contributions to the Bay Area arts community.
Since its founding in 2001, MYT has grown from a group of ten neighborhood children to a program with 200 citywide participants. It also reaches 400 additional children through an ongoing partnership with local public schools. Throughout that time, it has remained steadfast in purpose, continuing to admit students without regard to theatrical background or ability to pay and maintaining its Mission District outreach. Starting with aerial flying classes for toddlers and including courses in dance, circus and stagecraft, the program is designed to build the children’s theatrical skills from the ground up. The aim is to offer something for everybody in the vast world of multicultural arts, regardless of age, talent or natural aptitude.
Klion has had an illustrious career as a children’s musical theater producer, composer and musical director. She studied theater at Oberlin College under Bill Irwin, and received her BA and MA degrees from Mills College in music composition, studying with such luminaries as Terry Riley, Lou Harrison and Indian singer Pandit Pran Nath. She received a Thomas Watson Fellowship for a year-long study of raga in North India. For twenty years, Klion was a certified Orff Schulwerk music specialist at Bay Area schools including Mills College Children’s School and San Francisco Day School where she directed its popular summer theater intensive, Center Stage. Klion received the Bay Area Critic’s Circle Award and the Hollywood Dramalogue Award for her musical score of Tony Pellegrino’s critically acclaimed show, Deer Rose, which received the Will Glickman Playwright Award. In 2006, she received the Rex Foundation’s Jerry Garcia Award for promoting creativity in youth and in 2008 MYT’s production of Jip, His Story was the proud recipient of the American Harmony Award for Musical Theater.
MYT is very excited to have expanded its vibrant and socially diverse youth theater to include teens for the first time. Having initially focused on middle school students, and then gradually opened its doors to elementary school students and toddlers, the theater is proud to have rounded out its mission to serve youth from two to eighteen years old.