Victorian Ind. Art Awards & Café Scheherazade Close At fortyfivedownstairs

Two major events draw to a close this week, the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards 2011, and the production Café Scheherazade.

Theatre: Café Scheherazade
A fortyfivedownstairs production

Café Scheherazade closes a triumphant season on Sunday 3 April. The production has been sold out for almost three weeks, and we have had so many requests for tickets that we've scheduled a return season in August. This has been such a powerful and moving experience for the cast, that they have all agreed to return.

ABC Radio reviewer Prue Bentley described Café Scheherazade as "infinitely enjoyable" and audiences have obviously agreed with her.

Dates: Sat 20 August - Sunday 4 September
Times: Tue -Sat 8pm, Sunday 5pm,
Matinees 2pm Wed 24 & 31 Aug, 4pm Sat 27 Aug
Tickets: Full $45, Group 10+/ Seniors $40, Conc $37.50
Gallery: Victorian Indigenous Art Awards 2011
Until Saturday 2 April

This week is your last chance to see the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards 2011, an initiative of Art Victoria, presented in partnership with fortyfivedownstairs.

The exhibition opened on March 12, and there has been a constant stream of visitors to the gallery ever since.This week a new People's Choice award worth $2500 was announced at a small gallery function by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts, The Hon. Heidi Victoria. The winner, chosen by internet balloting by gallery visitors, was Eileen Ballangarry, a delight for her after entering the award five times so far!

The artists' talks on Saturday afternoons have had a really positive response to the insightful conversations with Nicholas Boseley, the indigenous curator whose tenure here was funded by Arts Victoria.

Small Gallery: Michael Pearce
Fluid
Tuesday 5 April to Saturday 16 April

This installation of pastel and charcoal drawings on paper grew out of Pearce's second Asialink Residency in Hanoi, Vietnam in late 2005. While verbal communication was sometimes difficult, Michael found that art was a shared language, enhanced by the serving of multiple cups of green tea.

Many of these drawings have evolved from a series of "drawing dialogues" with Vietnamese visual artists, with Michael photographing and drawing their "talking hands" Their conversations may have been unspoken, but they conveyed a world of meaning. There is a feeling of contemplation, a sense of meditation in these drawings, a love of form by an artist.

Large Gallery: Tony G Pentland
Consequences
Tuesday 5 April to Saturday 16 April

Tony Pentland's drawing involves transition within a time frame of a few moments, almost like a version of animation, with some images drawn from life, and others from film footage There is great spontaneity in the way Pentland works with graphite stick on paper torn from a continuous roll, a particular joy for those who love energy and movement in drawing.

After the sellout success of Café Scheherazade, we're taking a short break from full scale theatre productions. But it all takes off again on 3 May with the wickedly satirical Urban Display Suite

Theatre: Urban Display Suite
Michael Dalley and High Performance Company

Michael Dalley's performance Intimate Apparel in last year's Searchlight Festival had us all entranced, and we're delighted he's bringing this "malicious musical satire" to fortyfivedownstairs.

With its cast of tanned real estate agents, tasteless architecture and auction anecdotes. Urban Display Suite is a deliciously sharp musical satire on our national obsession with the property market.

Starring Gabrielle Quin, Lyall Brooks, Sharon Davis, Michael Dalley, with musical director John Thorn.

Season Tuesday 3 - Sunday 15 May
Dates: Preview Tue 3 May, opens Wed 4
Times: Tue - Sat 7:30pm, Sun 6pm
Tickets: Preview Full $20, Preview Conc $15, Full $28, Conc $23

Book online or call 9662 9966

Bookings for all fortyfivedownstairs shows: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com tel 9662 9966

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Since 2002 fortyfivedownstairs, a not-for-profit organisation, has offered an evocative urban space and a personalised service to an eclectic mix of artists for theatre, visual arts, forum, music and dance .