Archive: Arts & Entertainment

The annual Mini Locally Grown Dance (MLGD) features two faculty group works, each consisting of nine student solos choreographed in collaboration between faculty and performers. Additionally, there is an individual video work by graduate student Marienrica Giannuzzi, which was choreographed by Giannuzzi in Ithaca and Dorian Chavez in Brussels during quarantine in spring 2020. Providing commentary on the current political and social climates, the works also reflect the specificity of teaching and studying dance online.

The events are free and open to the public. Tickets may be reserved at schwartztickets.com; a link to the performance will be emailed to ticket-holders prior to showtime, and the performances will be available to view after the premiere weekend.

On the evening of Saturday, December 5, the Hangar Theatre Company will host a virtual FUNdraiser, Holiday Spirits with the Hangar. This event, honoring the Hangar’s past, present, and future, will feature a live streaming mixology class to make your own at-home cocktails, artistic entertainment, and an online silent auction. Proceeds from this event support the Hangar’s year-round artistic and educational programming.

Gold and Silver tickets include a pre-packaged kit with ingredients to create two different cocktails, access to a live streaming Cocktail Hour virtual mixology class with local bartender/cocktail creator Lisa Trencansky from Northstar House, and an assortment of snacks to enjoy throughout the event. The Cocktail Hour will also feature a Theatre Trivia break with former Hangar Artistic Directors, Bob Moss and Kevin Moriarty. Gold and Silver tickets must be purchased by November 30 to ensure delivery of the ingredients kit.

Live performing arts have been among the hardest hit industries by the coronavirus pandemic.  Performing artists all over the world quickly adapted to online performances, but that required acquiring a whole new set of skills, virtually over night.  Ithaca's Walking On Water (WoW) Productions is no exception.  Their entry into the virtual performance arena will be 'A Virtual Cabaret' November 20th and 21st.  The show will be a sort of 'Christmas Carol of WoW' in the sense that it will feature WoW's past, present and future.

"Because it's a celebration of WoW's past present and future, the first half of the show is looking at our past works," says WoW Founder and Producing Artistic Director Priscilla Hummel. "There is a medley from Godspell. Then we have a montage from pieces in the Fantasticks and then a montage of pieces from Katrina. And then after that, we have a section that focuses on the present and that's where we're featuring five creative team members.  And then the last part of the show, we celebrate the future. There will be a performance of two different songs from  one of the musicals we plan to produce next year."

Students and recent alumni from the College of Art, Architecture and Planning created 'Cornell: Safely Together', a collaborative project that aims to make social distancing a little more social.

The project includes circles mown at least 6 feet apart on the grass near Sibley Hall and a nearby set of freestanding seesaws. These curved "Seat-Saw" rockers have seats on either end separated by 6 feet. Across campus, a mowed radial pattern splays out from the paths on the Ag Quad, with log seats punctuating the terminus of each spoke.

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On October 30–31, the Cornell University Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA), Cornell Ambassadors for Media and Performance (CAMP), and Graduate Researchers in Media and Performing Arts (GRMPA) offer three collaboratively crafted online performances led by undergraduate women artists of color. The series, titled "Virtual Vibrance: Making, Shaking, Breaking Performance," is funded in part by the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Friday, October 30 (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday, October 31 (2:00 p.m.): "Exhibit Noir," devised by Faith Parris '24. "Exhibit Noir" depicts a Black museum, exploring blackness in the arts while focusing on the white gaze. Parris incorporates Paul Lawrence Dunbar's idea of "the mask" and other original poetry. The piece will consist of four consecutive dances that serve to tell a story through the African Diaspora.

Composer-pianist Vijay Iyer has carved out a unique path as an influential, prolific, shape-shifting presence in modern music. He was described by Pitchfork as "one of the best in the world at what he does," by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star,” by the New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” and by Minnesota Public Radio as “an American treasure.” A musical innovator, an active collaborator, and a member of multiple artistic communities, Iyer continues to reimagine the role of the musician in the 21st century.

For his episode on the Cornell Concert Series Fall 2020 Season, Iyer performs some of his own compositions, which draw from a variety of sources- including African American improvisational traditions, his own Indian heritage, and the Western classical canon. Iyer also answers student questions about his upcoming collaborations, and non-piano influences on his compositions.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that movie theaters outside of New York City can reopen at 25 percent capacity under state guidance starting October 23. No more than 50 people are allowed in front of each screen in each movie theater at once. Theaters can only open outside of New York City in counties that have COVID-19 positivity rates of less than 2 percent on a 14-day average and do not have any cluster zones. Theaters will be subject to rigorous state guidance and enforcement.  

However Cinemaworld, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, said its theaters, including the 14 screens at the Shops at Ithaca Mall, will remain closed indefinitely.  After Cuomo's announcement, the company announced it will be opening Regal Cinemas today in Albany, Buffalo, Orchard Park, Deer Park, Lynbrook, New Rochelle, Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Victor, and Westbury, but for now the Ithaca location remains closed. 

The governor also announced that 159,972 test results were reported to New York State yesterday—a new record high.

"We hit 160,000 tests in one day, which is a record number and the highest we've ever done. When you're doing that level of tests you get down to the block level. And then, when you start to see a cluster, you oversample in that cluster, so you get even more data," Cuomo said. "Beginning October 23, movie theaters outside of New York City will be allowed to reopen at 25 percent capacity with up to 50 people maximum per screen. This is outside of New York City in areas that have infection rates below 2 percent on a 14-day average and have no cluster zones."

The State Theatre of Ithaca announced an online presentation of Magic for Humans (At Home) with Justin Willman, an interactive hour of magic, comedy, and unexpected surprises delivered directly into your living room. Justin is a regular on the Tonight Show, Ellen, and Comedy Central, and is the star of the hit Netflix series Magic for Humans. Now he invites you and your family to join him (on Zoom) for this unique and intimate all-ages experiment.

For Halloween weekend Justin has created a brand-new show packed with more tricks and treats than you can imagine. Plus, there will be a costume contest, so dress appropriately. It's going to be a spooky and fun-filled event that your whole family will enjoy.

Each ticket allows viewing on one device, so you can choose to enjoy the show solo or share the fun with the entire family. During the performance Justin will be able to see, hear and interact with the audience in real time, making this a truly unique experience. Capacity is limited.

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At 7:30 PM EST on Sunday, November 1, the Hangar Theatre Company will present a virtual stream of a new play, Dear Hope, by Joy Peskin, directed by Michael Barakiva. The performance is free, with registration required at hangartheatre.org/hope.

Dear Hope is a semi-autobiographical story of Hope, a liberal Democrat attending the Women’s March in Washington, DC on January 21, 2017. On the way there, she meets Jim, a conservative Republican who just attended the Presidential Inauguration. Alternating between live interactions and email exchanges, Dear Hope is the story of two good people from opposite sides of the political spectrum who will stop at nothing to find common ground. This play dramatizes the challenges and rewards of coming together during divided times.

After five years co-leading the Hangar Theatre to sustainable growth, Hangar Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Barakiva will be leaving to pursue personal artistic opportunities. Michael joined the staff in September 2015 as Interim Artistic Director and became the Hangar’s first full-time, in-residence Artistic Director in 2016.

Barakiva shares the following with the Hangar community: "After much deliberation, I have made the decision to step down from my position as Artistic Director of the Hangar Theatre, which I have been lucky enough to call home for the last five years. Someone asked me recently what was the biggest surprise about becoming an artistic director. My answer was, the amount of love that dedicated supporters such as yourself have for this institution! The times we're living in have presented us with extraordinary challenges and opportunities, and I have full confidence that the Hangar will adapt and inspire, as it always has.”

November 13–21, the Cherry presents the English-language première of A Day by Québecoise writer Gabrielle Chapdelaine. This strange, funny, and tender new play received the Gratien-Gélinas prize for best new play of 2018. The Cherry's production of 'A Day' has already been featured in The New York Observer as one of “The Best Zoom Plays, Audio Dramas and Livestream Theater of Fall 2020!”

In A Day, four mysteriously connected characters guide one another through the obstacles large and small that make up an ordinary day. The play’s unexpected and ever-evolving structure lends itself beautifully to mixed video, and this production is created to stream live to audiences’ homes from the historic State Theater in downtown Ithaca.

At 7:30 PM EDT on Friday October 16, the Hangar Theatre Company will present the virtual presentation, The Inferior Sex, by Jacqueline E. Lawton, directed by Cynthia Henderson. Without the possibility of live events at the theatre this fall due to COVID-19, the Hangar offers additional off-season virtual programming to continue carrying out their mission while sharing meaningful and resonant stories with the community.

The Inferior Sex takes place in the summer of 1972. While Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm campaigns to become the first Black female president, eight inspired women come together to create a new magazine for “feminists who love fashion.” But in the charged era of Vietnam and Watergate, cross-currents of race and politics challenge their friendships as well as the magazine’s very survival. The Inferior Sex provides timely and humorous insight to what it means to find your politics, find your community, and ultimately find your voice, in an ever-changing world.