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ARTS & CULTURE

4446773042 22c3982c82 qSociety805’s Art & Culture section keeps your finger on the pulse on the arts and the cultural moves inside the 805. We get around the noise and beneath the hype to give you the real issues inside the 805 arts scene and the people in them. We bring you the key events shaping the 805 cultural landscape so you do not miss out on what is important and the direction of the 805 culture in art, theater, music, and film. Remember, you can’t live in style without art and culture.

Friday, 03 March 2017 06:49

Review: Devil’s Music That Saves Your Soul

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The Devils Music 4
Miche Braden stars as Bessie Smith in the Rubicon Theatre Company's  premiere production of "THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH"
Photo Credit: Ronnie Slavin
 
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The Rubicon Theatre Company of Ventura is currently showing the West Coast Premier of a very special project. Not really a play as such, or even what used to be called a “review”, The Devil’s Music: the Life and Blues of Bessie Smith is an extremely well-done hybrid whereby we, the audience are brought into a live speak-easy performance by Bessie Smith, the early pre-war Blues legend whose influence has shaped so much music since, from post-war small-band jazz to rock and roll.
image002Los Angeles The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) has announced its nominations and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange County and Ventura County theatre for the year 2016 (Dec. 1, 2015 – Nov. 30, 2016). The 48th annual LADCC awards ceremony will take place on Monday, March 20, 2017, at the Colony Theatre at Burbank Town Center, 555 North 3rd Street, Burbank.
 
 
 
 
 
 
(l)Celebration Theatre's The Boys from Oz   Photo Credit: Matthew Brian Denman
 
Wednesday, 22 February 2017 00:25

“Four Star Theater Alliance honors six Ventura County theaters

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Cecil Sutton Taylor Kasch The Night Alive Photo by Brian Stethem
It may be an increasingly electronic world, but the eclectic world of live theater is proving it has staying power in Ventura County, culminating in a gala Tony-like affair of awards on February 26th.

Offering over 1,000 seats on any given weekend, the County’s six community theaters – part of the unique Four Star Theater Alliance -- tap into local talents presenting comedies, dramas, musicals and dramedies.

The gala affair is at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 at the High Streets Art Center, 45 E. High Street in Moorpark. A limited amount of tickets ($15 in advance, $20 at the door) are available for the public at:www.HighStreetArtsCenter.com.
 
 
 
 
Veteran Ventura County actors Cecil Sutton and Taylor Kasch in a poignant scene from "The Night Alive," which won the most Oustanding Production Award for Santa Paula Theater Center from the Four Star Theater Alliance. Photo Credit: Brian Stethem
 

 
Saturday, 18 February 2017 22:46

Review:The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at ETC

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Russian American Jews composing an opera about racism in the Deep South circa 1935 featuring a virtually all-black cast? George and Ira Gershwin were considered out of their minds if not outright un-American at the time for such boundary-bending audacity. Their masterpiece, Porgy and Bess, from a libretto by Dubose Heyward based on his novel Porgy was shunned after its initial debut and all but forgotten for decades. In recent years, though, especially since the civil rights movement of the 60’s, the opera has been revived and re-spirited on several occasions using diverse media and genres; recognized at last, as a major American folk opera of unparalleled genius and universal humanitarian message and appeal.
 
 
Photo Credit: David Bazemore

Tuesday, 07 February 2017 02:00

Review: Driving Home: Rubicon Concludes Nibroc Trilogy

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unnamedReview-
With the wonderful cast and director of the previous installments reprising their roles, the third and last installment of the Nibroc Trilogy, Gulf View Drive, the conclusion to one of the most popular and critically acclaimed projects in Rubicon Theatre history, opened to an energetic and enthusiastic house last night. The play runs through 12 February 2017, and if you missed any of the two previous parts of the trilogy, no worries, this play stands on its own and offers up some first-rate comedy in the process.
 
 
(left) Erik Odom, Faline England, Sharon Sharth and Lily Nicksay star in Gulf View Drive, the final play of the acclaimed Nibroc Trilogy by Arlene Hutton .Performances January 25 – February 12 at Rubicon Theatre Company. Photo credit: Jeanne Tanner
 
Tuesday, 24 January 2017 04:53

Artists Opening: Cody Hooper & Kaori Fukuyama

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Cody Hooper & Kaori Fukuyama
February 2 - 28, 2017
Artamo GallerySanta Barbara, CA
 
 
Tuesday, 24 January 2017 03:38

Artist Opening: Laurel Sherrie

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Anacapa Arch LaurelSherrie
 
Laurel Sherrie
January 31 - March 1, 2017 
2 blondes BoutiqueSan Luis Obispo, CA
 
 
 
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