Category — All Events

Thursday, June 17, 2010 | 8pm

A rousing and magical night of performance from one of the world’s most acclaimed experimental theater companies, The Missoula Oblongata. Opening the evening are two special guests: music from Nelly Kate and a performance by Ali Cheff.

:-:-: THE MISSOULA OBLONGATA :-:-:
in:
“The Daughter of the Father of Time Motion Study”

Once there was a time when people knew the difference between sacrifice and compromise. Which is to say, they knew the difference between a walrus and a robot. Which is to say, they knew the difference between a hole in the ice and the ice itself. They knew each of the 18 hand movements prescribed by Time Motion Study, and they knew how to use them in a way that was restful. This play is a television mini-series about that remarkable period of time.

As always, The Missoula Oblongata is asking the big questions here: Can inefficiency be cured? If a robot is smarmy, is it only a reflection of your own smarminess? What exactly does it take to get oneself on a postage stamp?

Debuting May 30th at Southeastern Ohio’s own CrabbFest, comes a new play by The Missoula Oblongata: The Daughter of the Father of Time Motion Study. It’s the company’s sixth touring production–this one half the size of their usual main-stage fare, but with all of the moving parts, twisty dialog, and duct-taped together lighting that the company has become known for. And all of it is created, performed, and operated from the stage (that is, a 6′ x 6′ x ‘6 box) by the three full-time members of the company: Madeline ffitch, Sarah Lowry, and Donna Sellinger.

Written by: Donna Sellinger and Madeline ffitch

Directed by: Emily Pearlman

Performed by: Donna Sellinger, Madeline ffitch, and Sarah Lowry

Praise for The Missoula Oblongata:

“The romance of vaudeville, the adrenaline of punk, and the playfulness of the Children’s Television Workshop…packing the house with theatre buffs as well as with those who tend to fidget in velvet seats.”
–St. Louis Magazine

“Twisted and beautiful…the stage is transformed into a place of magic again and again. 4.5 stars. [out of 5]”
- Edmonton Sun

“A night at the theater has never looked so delightfully weird…Bizarrely frolicsome, cogently playful, sweetly surreal…Such is the genius of The Missoula Oblongata–quirky, but also exquisitely made and elegantly presented.”
– The Santa Fe Reporter

“Gorgeous, poetic, funny, moving…I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
–The Urbana News-Gazette

“It’s like arts and crafts on crack…like a bunch of summer camp counselors performing a fairy tale with a set designed by deeply disturbed scrap-bookers…It was a kick-ass, amazing performance.”
–The Seattlest

For more info about The Missoula Oblongata please visit: http://www.themissoulaoblongata.com/

Saturday, June 5, 2010 | 8pm | $10

The improvisational competition that has swept Japan comes to Charlottesville. Prepare yourself for Iron Improvisor.

Improv master Yoshikuni Makoto has come to Charlottesville to find the greatest improvisors. Only those who are stout of heart, quick of wit and strong of body will survive to be named the Iron Improvisors. Two teams, each with 23 minutes to perform four scenes will compete for this ultimate honor. Who is the ultimate champion? Which improv scene will reign supreme? Be at The Bridge to find out!

Tickets are pay what you can with a suggested donation of $10. Part of the proceeds go to help The Bridge promote the arts in Charlottesville.

Sunday, June 6, 2010 | 3 pm | $10

The Charlottesville Gamelan Ensemble returns to perform traditional and contemporary pieces from Java.   The gamelan is a blending of mostly percussive instruments including bronze xylophones, tuned gongs and drums played by 12 musicians.  Indonesian gamelan music has given the world the word for the “gong”.

The percussive gamelan sounds have been compared to the ambient sounds of water –  from the pitter-patter of gentle rain falling to the louder sounds or a gurgling river.  The gong of the Charlottesville Gamelan is aptly named “Honey Thunder”, an allusion to the sweetness of its rumble.  The actual music, in its traditional form, is based around a cyclical repeating melody which is embellished by different kinds of instruments playing rhythmic patterns around the notes of the main ‘tune’.

The twelve musicians in the Charlottesville Gamelan ensemble include local players as well as guests from eastern Virginia, Maryland and Chicago.  It is directed by Cynthia Benton-Groner, who acquired the instruments while doing field work in Java.

Saturday, May 15, 2010 | 8pm | $10

The Wu returns with an all new kickass show. Some call it comedy, some call it art, we call it Improv 3.0. See what this is all about; it ain’t your daddy’s comedy sportz.

Scheduled for this event are: an improvised concert from Charlottesville’s own Raging Bonitas; the debut of “Bardville” the world’s (as far as we know) only two man, completely improvised Shakespearean play; the Charlottesville debut of “Perfect Vision;” fan favorites “Hitchhiker Stories” and “Comicaze.”

$5-$10 donations accepted. Raising money for humanitarian clowns.

Thursday, April 22, 2010 | 6pm-9pm

Hoola hooping workshop with the ladies from Sintilation! HOOP HOOP BASICS at 6pm. Then try some TRICKS at 8pm for more advanced Hoopers. Lead by Jessica Baraff and Betsy Gilbertson.

Saturday, April 24, 2010 | noon-6pm

Noon to 1pm
MEET & GREET | SIGN-UPS

1pm to 2pm
MIME MIME MIME BASICS
Joe Pat studied mime in Portland, Oregon for one and a half years with a member of the Portland Mime Troup. “I was invited to join them, but I was committed to studying to become a chiropractor.
I’ve also studied with Dr. Tom and Suess in Atlanta, Georgia for two years while I finished chiropractic college. Over the years I’ve done small non-paid performances for friends and family. I’m enthralled at the physical expression of mime for health and art. Plus it’s a lot of fun.”

2pm to 4pm
CLOWNING FOR CHANGE
Way back in 2005, Kristina ran away from the circus to enlist in the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA), an international social movement that brings the magic of buffoonery to the struggle for social change. Passionate about offering groups the transformative experience of accessible “clown training,” Kristina has introduced the power of the red nose to activists (and other likeminded folk) in the US, UK, and Nigeria. The Rebel Clown Army has changed and adapted in myriad ways since its early years, but click here to see pics of Kristina in action with her original Glasgow “gaggle.” (She’s the one with the big pink fluffy hat.)

4pm to 5pm
THE ADVENTURE OF JUGGLING: Dancing With Gravity!
The practice of juggling offers many benefits physical, mental spiritual and social. Join us for a demonstration and introductory laboratory that will be fun and provocative for both both beginners and experienced jugglers ages 10 and up.

Bio: Mercury Morningstar is an emissary of the Healing Carnival Juggling Dojo, a pangalactic fellowship dedicated to proliferating joy and ripening wisdom throughout the universe.

5pm to 6pm
Basics of Fire Spinning with Jessie and Carrie!!! Poi Poi Poi!!!

Saturday, April 17, 2010 | 8pm | $5

IGNAZ SCHICK & KEENAN LAWLER met for the first time about 10 years ago in Louisville, KY when Keenan set up a show for Perlonex during their legendary X-Noise tour in 2001. At the time they had a chance to rehearse and record and found that they share the same approach towards drone music which is deeply rooted in noise and electro-acoustic music but also encourages subtle folk elements. Since the first meeting they had been trying to record & perform which until this tour failed for several times due to logistic problems. So they will use the chance and record all 10 live concerts and they will go to mix and edit the material directly after the tour in Louisville.

IGNAZ SCHICK (BERLIN)

* 1972 in Germany [turntablist, sound artist]
In his youth, he studied the saxophone and performed in free jazz and
avant rock bands. At the same time, he was getting obsessed with
multitrack tape machines, record players and effect boxes and he
started experimenting with many different instruments and sound making
devices. After college he briefly studied at the Academy of Fine Arts
in Munich and worked for several years as an assistent for the
contemporary composer Josef Anton Riedl.
Since the late 1995 he works and lives in Berlin where he became an
active and integral force of the so-called “Berlin Nouvelle Vague” and
the blossoming “real time music” scene. From the middle of the
nineties onwards his interest and activities almost completely shifted
towards live-electronics and after testing various instrumentations
(hard- & software samplers, signal processing, contact mics, field
recordings, …) he developed his own and quite unique
electro-acoustic set-up which he calls “rotating surfaces”. Various
objects and materials (from wood, metal, plastic, paper or violin bows
and cymbals) are played directly on the rotating metal plate of the
turntable and the vibrations are simply amplified with a small
condensator microphone. With this set-up he covers many different
styles of contemporary experimental music – ranging from extreme
reductionism via ambient, industrial, musique concrete, electronica to
harsh noise.

Besides his favorite setting – the direct duo-confrontation with the
likes of Chris Abrahams (AUS), Andrea Belfi (I), Alexei Borisov (RUS),
Sebastian Buczek (PL), Phil Durrant (GB), Gunnar Geisse (D), GX
Jupitter-Larsen/The Haters (USA), Sven Ake Johansson (S/D), Andrea
Neumann (D), Dawid Szczesny (PL), Martin Tetreault (CAN), Marcel
Türkowsky (D) or Sabine Vogel (D) – he is member and founder of many
different ensembles like Perlonex, Snake Figures Arkestra, Phosphor,
Blind Snakes, Tree People, Decollage, Berlin Sound Connective, N.I.E.,
….
He has collaborated with numerous international artists (most notably
Don Cherry & Charlemagne Palestine) and toured and performed clubs &
festivals all over Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, Israel,
Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine & the USA. He released many
albums on labels like Zarek, Edition Zangi, edition x, Irrah,
Potlatch, Bad Alchemy, Charhizma, Staalplaat, Nexsound, Non Visual
Objects, Improvised Music From Japan, Absinth or Ambiances Magnetiques
and he was part of radio/television broadcasts and productions on
Arte, ORF-Kunstradio, ORF-Zeitton, BR2, DLR, DLF, WDR3, DRS2, SR, HR,
Radio Copernicus, CBC Canada, (…)
Furthermore he has been curating festivals of experimental music from
the early 90s onwards (FAM, Erase & Reset, Time Shifts & T.I.T.O.,
…) and has been realizing with increasing intensiry sound
installations and conceptual works since 2005.

R KEENAN LAWLER (Louisville, Kentucky)

is a musician, sound artist, improviser and
composer. For nearly thirty years he has been a restless explorer of
sound from rock to electroacoustic improvisation and many points in
between. Since the late nineties he is best known for developing a
highly idiosyncratic difficult to categorize language on the metal
bodied resonator guitar fueled by minimalism, blues, Asian and African
musics, ancient and modern classical, psychedelia and jazz. Lawler is
known for solo performances and recordings and also as a collaborator
and perfomer working with a diverse range of like-minded artists among
them: Matmos, Rhys Chatham ensembles, Charlambides, Pelt, My Morning
Jacket, Tatsuya Nakatani, Paul K and the Weathermen, Connor Bell, Mike
Tamburo and the Universal Orchestra of Pituitary Knowledge, David
Watson, Helena Espvall, Lukas Ligeti, Ut Gret, Ignaz Schick, John
Butcher, Christian Kiefer and Jon Mueller. Lawler’s music can be found
on such labels as Important, Tompkins Square, New American Folk Hero,
Music Fellowship, Rebis, Eclipse and Table of the Elements who
released the acclaimed,”Music for the Bluegrass States”. He performs
live regularly and has participated in such festivals as High
Zero, Fantastic Voyagers, Time of Rivers, Transmissions, Greetings Fellow
Pickers, Terrastock 7 and Table of the Elements Bohrium. His sound art
has been presented in PS1 Brooklyn,Henry Art Seattle.and in Louisville
via collaboration with artists Thaniel Ion Lee, Valerie Fuchs and
Russell Hulsey.

CORY O’BRIEN/MYO (Washington, D.C.)

Myo is the solo project of Cory O’Brien (b. 1980), a self taught
hacker, computer musician and electro-acoustic improviser. Contact
mics on polycarbonate sheets and feedback networks programmed in Pd
and Max/MSP are the preferred tools. His music has been described by
Vital Weekly as “louder, dirtier, gritty and angular, but still with
ingredients of microsound”.

Other projects and collaborations include Never Work (with Kenneth
Yates), Makioki Sisters (with Jeff Surak) and Clouds-Out (with video
artist Jesse Hartgraves).

He currently lives and works in Washington, DC.

Friday, April 9, 2010 | 8pm | $5 general admission, $3 students

The Wu Prov Academy brings their Improv 3.0 show to the Bridge joined on stage by UVA’s oldest improv troupe The Whethermen.

Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 8pm | $5 general admission, $3 students

The Bent Theatre and Amuse Bouche come together for an amazing night of improv make ‘em ups.

Monday, April 19, 2010 | 7pm

Come celebrate National Poetry Month with a quick-moving and casual poetry reading. Ten to twenty readers, each bringing to the podium one poem of their own, and one beloved piece by another poet. A collision of writing worlds, this reading will feature folk from all corners of Charlottesville and other nooks of Virginia, and beyond. It will include both the unaffiliated, and those with affiliations ranging from UVA’s undergraduate and MFA programs to WriterHouse to WordSmith Poetry and more. With this many voices in the room, you will find at least one new loved poem you didn’t even know you were looking for. We present you with the polyphony of contemporary American poetry, the gems we ourselves couldn’t forget, a series of poems as varied as any Ginsberg litany. Please lend us your ears.

Readers will include: Joanne Mosuela, Sarah Rosen, Sean Kelly, Liz Pettit, Browning Porter, Joe Chapman, Julia Hansen, Sierra Bellows, Jazzy Danziger, Christa Romanosky, Aja Gabel, Ebony Walden, Adam Flake, Suzanne Saxon, Atain Ibia, Gary Johnson, and Michele Miller.

Saturday, March 27, 2010 | 8pm

A listening session featuring audio stories from and about Virginia. We’ll explore Virginia’s human and natural landscape with a variety of audio formats: NPR style features, audio art and composition, recorded spoken word, and any other format we find. The audience is invited to participate in discussion and many of the producers/composers will be in attendance.