[NEohioPAL] An Invitation from Dobama's Night Kitchen Founder, David Hansen

[pengo at davidhansen.org]

Dear Friend,

Dobama's Night Kitchen was founded in 1995 as a series of late-night
performance events created by and for peoples in their teens and twenties.
 In the three years I served as artistic director of this project, we had
the opportunity to produce a great deal of funny, shocking, sexy and
artistically questionable work.

My final project before stepping down as head of DNK was to produce the
very first Night Kitchen version of Marilyn Bianchi's Kids' Playwriting
Festival, to celebrate the festival's 20th anniversary.  That was in 1998.
 That was ten years ago.  Let us speak no more of the past.

Now celebrating its 30th year, the Marilyn Bianchi Kids' Playwriting
Festival has been acknowledging and rewarding the imagination of young
people, and creating an evening of fascinating and fun plays presented for
FREE.

This weekend there is a two-hour presentation of plays by kids in the 1st
through 8th grades – the Dobama's Night Kitchen production, directed by
myself and Lisa Ortenzi, is an hour-long program of three plays by area
high school students.

The first, IT'S A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE by Lindsay Smith (Cleveland
School of the Arts, 11th grade) is about a young family coping with the
news that the father is headed for Iraq.

FORTUNES by Betty Rosen (Hathaway Brown, 12th grade) is a bit lighter –
the story of a woman with Capgras delusion and a man who writes fortunes
cookies for a living, who 'meet cute' at the grocery store.

Finally, UZIS AND GRENADES, CROSSBOWS, OH MY! by Daniel Pease-Kerr
(Cleveland Heights High School, 9th grade) is ... well, it's ridiculous. 
If I said any more, I'd be giving away the ending.

Since the adjudicating process of these works, I have been very impressed
by these playwrights ability to tackle adult issues with a great deal of
maturity, original, character-driven dialogue and humor.  They're really
good scripts.

We have assembled a very talented ensemble of six to perform all three
plays.  Most I have never worked with before, all of whom I would be
delighted to work with or see onstage again.  They include Andrea Belser,
Camar Jackson, Cat R. Kenney, Andrew Goldsworth, Joe Primes and Solana
Primes.

And it wouldn't be a Night Kitchen production if I did not point out that
the shows include music by Estelle, Kate Nash, Duffy, Free The Robots,
Sugababes, Carbon/Silicon, Los Campesinos!, The Puppini Sisters, ... and
Marvin Hamlisch.

Photos from last night's final dress rehearsal can be seen here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28360&l=9dde9&id=536192959

There are only three DNK performances, this weekend (June 13 – 15) at 10
PM on Friday and Saturday and 5 PM on Sunday, and as always, Marilyn's
Festival performances are FREE and open to the public, no reservation
necessary.

They are in the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre at
IdeaCenter in Playhouse Square, 1375 Euclid Avenue, in downtown Cleveland.

For more information on the Marilyn Bianchi Kids' Playwriting Festival,
and the four free performances of the 1st – 8th grade plays, visit the
Dobama website at http://www.dobama.org/

I am very glad Joyce asked me back to the Night Kitchen for this event,
it's going to be a fabulous weekend.  I hope you will join us.

David Hansen
Founder, Dobama's Night Kitchen