Hello again, everyone. Full steam ahead, as they say. Here’s the latest in Sinag-tala news.
1. ANTIGONE CLOSES THIS WEEK. Starting tonight at 7:30PM, the River Stage production of Sophocles’ 2,500-year-old-but-highly-relevant tragedy, Antigone, will have its last four performances at the River Stage Theater on the Cosumnes River College campus. In a previous bulletin, we shared the exceptional press reviews about the production so we won’t repeat them. But it’s not often that classic Greek theater is done locally so we recommend that you try to see this one. If for nothing else, see it to see Julian Torrente and me. Seeing your resident artists’ work outside Sinag-tala is one way to evaluate their artistic competence. Besides 7:30PM tonight, the remaining shows are at 7:00PM Friday and Saturday, then 2:00PM on Sunday. By the way, I am offering 3 complimentary tickets to the first person(s) to request them by 5:30PM today. The tickets are valued at $18 each. Student and group prices are also available. Visit http://www.riverstage.org/ for more information.
2. AFGHAN WOMAN. Bina Sharif, the award-winning Pakistani playwright, actress, director and poet whose works have been produced off-Broadway and internationally came from New York last weekend under the auspices of the Ethnic Theater and Film Program headed by Angela-Dee Alforque at Sacramento City College. Bina presented a lecture at SCC on May 12 then staged her powerful one-woman play, Afghan Woman, at the college’s Art Court Theatre on May 13 to a hushed, captivated audience. Later that evening, she paid a brief visit to the Sinag-tala Studio to observe Andriana Castellano, Krystle Jong, Kat Escobar, Febelyn Acosta-Green and Ana Maria DeYoung in rehearsal for the Pacific Rim Street Fest. We are exploring the possibility of adapting one of her plays to a Philippine setting for possible production next year, along with Conrad Panganiban’s Garden of Dreams, as part of the Sinag-tala 20th anniversary commemoration. Congratulations to Angela for her successful two-year quest to bring Bina to Sacramento, and to SCC staff and faculty for their support.
3. NEXT UP FOR THE TOURING ENSEMBLE: PACIFIC RIM STREET FEST. Everyone is invited to enjoy the program that will be presented by the Sinag-tala Theater Ensemble at 11:30AM this coming Sunday, May 18, on the River Front Stage at the Pacific Rim Street Fest. This exciting all-day annual event, which will feature many other Asian American Pacific Islander cultural groups and other attractions, will take place as usual in Old Sacramento. The event is free. Bring your friends, relatives and a little cash so you can savor the great food sold there. And umbrellas, wide-brim hats and spritzers. A suggestion for neutralizing the hot weather: after the Sinag-tala show, cool off with refreshing halo-halo at the Loard’s Halo-halo and Ice Cream booth, operated by longtime Sinag-tala supporter Sal Marcellana (see item # 7 below). Most likely, they’ll be the only halo-halo vendor in sight, so there’s no excuse not to find them.
4. BURMA AND BURGOS AT ELK GROVE HIGH. The students of Sinag-tala alumna Cheena Chun, theater arts instructor at Elk Grove High School, decided to respond to the plight of the cyclone victims of Myanmar in a most interesting way. They will stage Benefit Night for Burma at their school theater at 7:00PM on Wednesday, May 21, which will feature feature music, dance, monologues, and one acts composed by the students themselves. But that’s not all. They are also featuring a short one act play loosely based on the disappearance of Jonas Burgos, the Filipino political activist whose widely covered disappearance in April 2007 at the hands of armed abductors is just one of scores of mysterious disappearances of Philippine activists and journalists over the past several years. According to Cheena, her non-Filipino students chose on their own to research and write about political disappearances believed by many to have been connected to government operatives. Another timely artistic endeavor. By the way, admission is by voluntary donation, with $5 as a minimum. Also, they are still looking for additional acts to include in the program. All Sinag-tala artists and participants are encouraged to volunteer as performers if not to see the show. Contact Cheena at misschunster@gmail.com for more information.
5. 4TH INTERNATIONAL KIDS DAY. The touring ensemble will also perform on May 31 at the 4th International Kids Day at Fair Oaks Park. Watch for more details about the event and our performance time.
6. THANKS TO DIO AGUSTIN AND OUR VERIZON ANGELS. After all these years, Dio Agustin, one of our longtime and most endearing Sinag-tala dads, and his colleagues at Verizon, continue to support the SFTPAA through their workplace matching program. Their generous, unsolicited annual contributions and the Verizon Foundation’s outstanding community giving program have been very valuable to us. We extend our heartfelt appreciation for their friendship and caring hearts and hope for their continued interest in our work. When you see Dio, be sure to let him know that you feel the same way.
7. THANKS TO SAL MARCELLANA. In our last bulletin, we encouraged the unheralded State employees who have been generously yet silently contributing to SFTPAA through the State Employees Charitable Contributions Campaign to allow us to mention their names publicly. A good number of you reading this belong to that selfless group. Among that group is our good friend Sal Marcellana, who wrote us this note a few days ago: “I prefer not to but do publish my name as a state employee supporting SFTPAA. Sometimes potential donors feel more motivated and therefore do the same or better when they see a colleague believing a cause they currently don’t feel too passionate about.” Thanks for the thought and for always believing in the SFTPAA mission. We hope other State employees will take his words to heart.
8. WANT FOOD? YA GOT IT. BUT YA GOTTA WORK FOR IT. You have four choices (but we’re not talking about the menu yet). The SFTPAA will be selling fiesta gods-pleasing combo plates all day at the Filipino Fiesta on June 8 at the Jose P. Rizal Community Center on Florin Mall Drive, South Sacramento (across the street from the Southgate Public Library). We’ll announce our menu soon. Meanwhile, as a devoted Sinag-tala friend, your choices are to: a) be a food booth volunteer – we need 25 cheerful people; b) donate a contribution to help us defray our booth expenses; c) buy this gods-pleasing food at our booth; or d) do all three. We’re perennially busy, we’re a small organization, and we don’t get to do too many fundraisers. So this food booth is a BIG DEAL. We need help Please support this effort. Consider serving on the food booth committee so we can discuss what bases need to be covered and who will cover them. By the way, volunteers will get free food as long as they earn it first. We’ll meet next week – watch for the announcement. We will also be discussing our booth plans during the ST2008 Production Meeting on May 25. In addition, if you are willing to lend us any of these items, please let me know ASAP: propane barbecue grills (we need 3), stand-by gas generator, fuel for the grills and generator, large water containers with easy to operate spigots, large ice chests, buckets, paper towels, ice, oven mitts, aprons, barbecue utensils and folding chairs.
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10. DEE PIZARRO’S C.A.M.P. Musical Director recently announced the first-ever C.A.M.P., which offers an exciting summer music program. Here are the details, courtesy of Dee:
C.A.M.P. stands for Creative Arts Music Program. This is the 1st annual summer camp of its kind that will be held from July 25-July 27, 2008 at Folsom Lake and will be attended exclusively for the guitar and piano students of Dee Pizarro. Most teachers hold annual recitals, but Dee is thinking of fun instead of stress in the summertime.
C.A.M.P. is staffed by local Sacramento artists and will feature them facilitating in workshops and activities that will motivate and inspire them to have interest in other aspects of performing arts such as script writing, theater, rhythm and movement, vocal projection, relative tuning and use of the CAPO (for guitar only) etc. We will also be having an Awards Dinner and Program presentation on Saturday, July 26 at our campsite.
For information on registration and the fundraisers that are being planned for the camp, please contact Dee Pizarro at 916.802.4386. Contact Dave Acosta @ 916.952.0861 for the Texas Hold Em Tourney.
Well, that’s this edition of our bulletin. You know there’re more to come. And remember, if you didn’t find a typo in this bulletin, you may not have been reading carefully. Thanks to everyone as always for your interest and support. Have an enjoyable time, whatever you do!
Sonny Alforque
Artistic Director
