Wyoming Arts Council- Fiction writer and poet Jeanne Bryner to serve as juror for Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards September 3, 2010Fiction writer and poet Jeanne Bryner has agreed to serve as the juror for the 2011 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards.The Neltje Blanchan Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or script which is informed by a relationship with the natural world. The Frank Nelson Doubleday Award, $1,000, is given for the best poetry, ficti […]
- Cyrus Chesnut opens UW fall concert series September 3, 2010From a UW press release:Jazz musician Cyrus Chestnut will start the University of Wyoming Cultural Programs fall concert series at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, in the Fine Arts Center concert hall in Laramie.Tickets cost $22 for the public and $18 for students and senior citizens. Tickets can be purchased online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts or call (307) 766-6666 […]
- Call for entries: The Meadowland Review September 3, 2010The Meadowland Review is now considering submissions of original artwork (paintings, drawings, collage). Deadline for ART/PHOTOGRAPHY submissions is OCTOBER 1, 2010The Meadowland Review will not accept material that has appeared in other online or print publications. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but you must notify The Meadowland Review if your wor […]
- Promoting fine writers and fine wines and a fine library September 3, 2010Here's an interesting way to promote fine writers and fine wines and the restoration and expansion of an historic Carnegie Library. (For an example of a similar project in Wyoming, visit the Fremont County Library in Lander.)D'Vine Wine Manitou has released commemorative bottles of its wine with specially designed Author Fest of the Rockies labels […]
- Igniting Cheyenne, five minutes at a time September 2, 2010From the Ignite Cheyenne blog:If you had five minutes to say something to the people of Cheyenne, what would you say?Well think it over, because we are giving you a chance to say it. Ignite Cheyenne is a place where people from Cheyenne and southeastern Wyoming can come to share ideas, hobbies, socialize and have a great time. Ignite Cheyenne is about showca […]
- Fiction writer and poet Jeanne Bryner to serve as juror for Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards September 3, 2010
- National Endowment for the Arts
- The Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative Grants Announced July 20, 2010Under the massive silos and steel girding of an industrial steel blast furnace, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman announced 21 grants totaling $3 million awarded through the NEA Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative (MICD 25). […]
- NEA ARTS July 15, 2010The web version of the new NEA ARTS is posted. The issue focuses on the arts in Washington, DC […]
- Big Read Grants Announced July 15, 201075 not-for-profits,including arts and cultural organizations, libraries, and universities,will receive grants totaling $1 million to host Big Read projects between September 2010 and June 2011. […]
- National Endowment for the Arts Celebrates the Fifth Year of The Big Read With $1 Million in Grants July 8, 2010Kicking off the program's fifth year, the National Endowment for the Arts today announced that 75 not-for-profits -- including arts and cultural organizations, libraries, and universities -- will receive grants totaling $1 million to host a Big Read project between September 2010 and June 2011. […]
- NEA Chairman Landesman and Hud Secretary Donovan Invite the Arts Community and Creative Sector to Participate in Funding Opportunites Designed to Create More Livable, Sustainable Communitites July 8, 2010Last week, HUD and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) released two Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs): $100 million in grants available through HUD's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program, and up to $75 million in grants available through a joint HUD and DOT Sustainable Communities Challenge Grant Program. Under both prog […]
- The Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative Grants Announced July 20, 2010
Shakespeare Kicks off the 2010-2011 Season!
Montana Shakespeare in the Parks returns this summer with free productions in Powell and Cody!
Powell will host Julius Caesar on Monday, July 26 at 6:30 p.m. in Washington Park.
Cody will feature A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Tuesday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m. in Canal Park.
Julius Caesar, July 26 in Powell
One of the summer’s most anticipated attractions, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks brings professional productions at no cost to the public to communities throughout Montana, northern Wyoming, eastern Idaho and western North Dakota. Remarkably self-sufficient, the company features 10 professional actors who tour without technical assistance to bring theatre to communities primarily in rural areas that may not otherwise have access to it. This summer, the anticipated audience of over 30,000 will be treated to two wonderful performances that cover the broad perspective of Shakespeare’s genius as a playwright.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is perhaps Shakespeare’s most produced play as well as one of his best known comedies. It is a fantastical fantasy ride that is enchanting in its imaginative use of language, place and characters. The play explores two worlds; one includes the royal court, the young lovers and the “mechanicals” that all live in the “real” world of Athens and the other a “magical forest” where the fairies rule and strange and even nightmarish things begin to happen to those who venture into the forest at night.
“To my way of thinking the fairies are hard at work in the play, it’s the netherworld that creates all of this madness,” according to artistic director, Joel Jahnke. “As the play ends, the sun comes up and all of the magic of the forest goes away. They wake not knowing if it was real or a dream.”
Midsummer’s worlds will be designed to contrast significantly with each other. The “real” world of Athens will have a monochromatic flavor while the world of the forest will be a richly textured, magical world that although controlled by the fairies is also a place of danger, of dark shadows, of mysterious things that happen to the lovers when they least expect them. “I have been strongly influenced by both Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Tim Burton’s new version of Alice,” says Jahnke, “I’m looking to create a world that is exotic and colorful with just the right amount of mystery and danger to keep it interesting.”
July 27 in Cody
In juxtaposition to the magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream, MSIP veteran Will Dickerson has chosen to direct Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s classic tale of betrayal, to complement the 2010 summer season. Julius Caesar is an exciting ride which includes espionage, secret alliances, murderous plots, political intrigue and lots of action. It serves as a cautionary tale for those who crave power and whose ambitions place personal gain above the public good. “I think the engine that drives the main players of this story is competition,” says director Dickerson, “and there are a lot of by-products of this competition both good and bad: pride, jealousy, courage, ambition, fanaticism and loyalty to name a few.” This summer’s production of Julius Caesar will be set in Rome in 44 B.C. “The idea is to get out of the bleached white togas and try to make these people real and accessible.”