We’re doing another Word Swap this Friday, share your writing with other writers. We did it last month on a soggy night, this month, more! The idea is to bring a bunch of copies of your work (poem, short story, chapter, zine, article, essay, etc.) and take home copies of other people’s. Informal, and feedback optional. No workshop, no reading, no obligation! Friday, Nov. 20, 6:30-8:30pm, at Cha-cha’razzi! 1918 S. Bancroft st.
And this one repeats. Every third Friday, starting in October, we’re hosting a word swap. What does that mean you ask? It means you bring copies of your work, you take home copies of other people’s work, and in the meantime hang out with other writers (or not). No workshop, no reading, no obligation. A risk-free way of putting your work Out There. So, bring poems, stories, zines, chapters, novels, comics, long, short, etc. And bring your quarters, cause this is a bake sale honey. Friday October 16, 7-8:30pm, 1918 Bancroft st.
Film Screening coming! Like the carnival, it’s traveling to us. Filmmakers Ben Balcom and Josh Weissbach present Heap Us ‘Round Our Ruins: An Interstate Film Circuit, which is a fifteen state (and counting) film tour that will encompass all regions within the continental U.S. Weissbach will showcase interiors of the liquid gap (2009), an experimental documentary shot on Super 8 and 16mm that focuses on Cuban exiles and the intimate sites of their lives before, while, and after crossing the liquid divide between Cuba and the United
States (45min). Balcom will showcase transmission (2009), celebration of dead leaves (2009), and every small heart is a miniature inferno (2008). transmission is a short experiment with the material being signals of perception (6 min). celebration of dead leaves uses a combination of optical printing techniques and hand processing as tools to manipulate, as well as
emulate, our experiences of seeing and moving through the world (14 min). every small heart is a miniature inferno is like a free-verse poem (6 min). Both filmmakers differ in their approach and subject matter, but are unified by an interest in the vitality of the moving images as an experience of communication.
Sunday Sept. 13, 2009, 7:30pm, 1918 Bancroft st.
There’s another play afoot. It won’t be at the cha-cha, but it’s being put on by Adam and Reb, ahem, the Western Narrative Company, for Philly fringe. And set construction is underway.
“Since being rescued from obscurity, Desert of Hallways has shaken the American literary canon with its poignant portrait of a family’s journey through a nation in flux. Western Narrative’s original musical production uses this anonymously authored novel to guide a present-day family as they ready themselves for a neighbor’s foreclosure party, reading their own lives through the fictionalized characters of the page. With a three-person cast that alternately plays the characters of Mom, Dad, and Junior, Desert of Hallways maps a family’s shifting identity through moments of humor, conflict, and acceptance.
“Western Narrative Company brought Philly Fringe Festival goers to tears of laughter and discomfort in 2008 with their debut production, i love you, hailed by The City Paper for its ‘Inventive absurdities and exuberant and poignant songs…delivered by a cast that looked like they were having as much fun as the chuckling audience.'”
This one starrs: Adam Brody, David L Byrne & Joel Chartkoff. Sept. 10-12, 18-19. 7pm. First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut st, Philadelphia, $10.
Prometheus Radio Benefit take 2! We’re hosting the dance party follow-up to last week’s concert. DJs play music, you dance, they build low power fm radio stations. Hurray! Prometheus is your local low power radio non-profit that helps communities build their own fm stations. Donations go towards sending the group to the Allied Media Conference. Come support them Sat. July 11th, 10pm-2pm, $5-10 donation.
From the staging of Collecting Dust: For the weekend, Emily Rabkin turned our first floor into the cupboard of a dust archivist and stage of verse. Tristan did live music for it, and there were shadow puppets (by Lee Davis, Cecily Anderson, and Nina Macintosh). I couldn’t get a good picture of the projection, but they were really beautiful. (If anyone has better photos, do send them). Below is Emily, pictures of the set (jars! dust! keys hanging on a wire!), and Scout (Alexis Scott) and Littletongue (Monica Gomery) wrapping each other in string.
Proof! Here’s from the second edition of the ManMoth reading series (that was May 28th). Compliments of one Jeremy Tennenbaum. See the whole set here.
A piece of theatre in the old cabinet-maker’s workshop! We are very excited to host Collecting Dust: A Play in Verse By Emily Rabkin. The play tells the story of Scout, an archivist of dust, who falls in love with a carpenter, the dustiest of tradespeople. Through shadow puppets and contemporary verse, an unexpected queer love story emerges from a dust cloud. June 25 & 26th at 8pm, June 27th at 7 and 10pm. $5-10 suggested donation.
On June 20th we’re hosting an Art on the Road benefit. Bands downstairs, art and artists upstairs. Featuring The Wayfairs, Conversations with Enemies, and Sailboat! Art by Tory Franklin, Eric Remer, Jesse Rinyu, & more! Doors 6pm, $5 cover.
Cha-Cha'razzi 