Mo'olelo Announces Tuesdays at The 10th, Kicks Off 4/13

Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego's community-focused, socially-conscious, Equity theater company, today announced three new events as part of their Tuesdays at The 10th series.

Created to provide low-cost, high quality arts and culture opportunities in the East Village of San Diego, the Tuesdays at The 10th series was designed through a partnership between The 10th Avenue Theatre and Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company.

On April 13, from 5:30 - 7:00 PM, they'll present Wine, Cheese & Wisdom with Actor Robert Foxworth. Created as an opportunity for local artists and audiences to glean wisdom from a nationally recognized theater practitioner and to close the gap between local and national and between artist and audience, the informal wine & cheese reception at 5:30 p.m. will be followed by a facilitated chat and Q&A with Mr. Foxworth from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.. Attendees will learn about his career path, his process as an actor, working on Broadway, regional theater, TV and film, why he has made San Diego his new home, his thoughts on the future of American theater and more. Admission is a bottle of wine, cheese or a snack to share, or a $10 suggested donation at the door.

On May 25, from 6:00- 8:00 PM, the Tuesdays at the 10th series will feature a reading of Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond, a play that tells the story about the LeVay's, an affluent African American family vacationing on Martha's Vineyard . The sons, Flip and Kent - one the golden boy, the other a struggling novelist - each bring their girlfriends - one White and one Black - to meet the family. As the drinks and conversation flow, the barbs begin to fly and an old family secret is revealed. A play about family, trust and class. The reading of Stick Fly will be directed by Seema Sueko and feature Marshel Adams, Robert Barry Fleming, Johnny Ray Gill, Tanya Johnson, Frances Anita Rivera and Bowman Wright. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $5 at the door.

On June 15, from 6:00 - 8:00 PM, the Tuesdays at the 10th series will feature a reading and discussion of a play in development, Sila by Chantal Bilodeau. Commissioned by Mo`olelo and supported by a two-year grant from The James Irvine Foundation, Sila explores the intersection of race, class and the environment in the Canadian Arctic. In the race to shape the future of the region, four characters - an ice scientist, an Inuit activist, an officer for the Marine Communications and Traffic Services and a polar bear - see their values challenged as their lives become intertwined. Using three different languages (English, French and Inuktitut), Sila is a plea for increased collaboration in dealing with the big challenges of our time. Admission is free with a suggested donation of $5 at the door.

For information or reservations for any of these events, visit www.moolelo.net or contact tickets@moolelo.net or 619-342-7395. All events will take place at The 10th Avenue Theatre, 930 10th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101.

Profiles

Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company - Founded in 2004, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company is a socially-conscious theatre organization dedicated to broadening the scope of San Diego's cultural environment by telling powerful stories that are as diverse as the islands of Hawaii, by paying Equity wages to local actors and by developing environmentally-friendly theatre practices. Selected as the inaugural Resident Theatre Company at La Jolla Playhouse for 2008-2009, Mo`olelo is a recipient the Patté, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, McDonald Playwriting and the Anti-Discrimination Awards. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Mo`olelo's mission is to create new works based on research within various communities, produce lesser-known works by master and contemporary playwrights, and educate youth. Mo`olelo means story in Hawaiian. To learn more, visit www.moolelo.net or call 619-342-7395.

Robert Foxworth has been seen on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning August: Osage County, Twelve Angry Men, Judgment at Nuremberg , Honour, Ivanov, Candida, Love Letters, The Crucible (Theatre World Award) and King Henry V, and played Robert In the national tour of Proof. His stage work also includes Claudius in Daniel Sullivan's Hamlet (South Coast Repertory), Cyrano (Great Lakes Theatre Festival), Iago and Macbeth (Guthrie Theater), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ( Hartford Stage), Galileo (CENTERSTAGE) and Uncle Vanya (Geffen Playhouse). His numerous television and film credits include "Falcon Crest," "Six Feet Under," "Gilmore Girls," Syriana and voice of Ratchet in Transformers I and II. In San Diego , he is an Associate Artist of The Old Globe and has appeared in Cornelia, Julius Caesar, Private Lives and Below the Belt. This summer he will headline The Old Globe's 2010 Shakespeare Festival as King Lear in King Lear and Dr. Willis in The Madness of George III.

Chantal Bilodeau is a playwright and translator originally from Montreal , Canada . Her plays include Pleasure & Pain (Magic Theatre; Foro La Gruta and Teatro La Capilla, Mexico City), The Motherline (Ohio University; University of Miami; NY International Fringe Festival), Tagged (Ohio University; Alleyway Theatre), as well as several shorts that have been presented by theatres across the country. She has been a member of the Women's Project Playwrights' Lab, the Lark Playwrights Workshop and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship Program; a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, the Banff Centre (Canada) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; and has received grants from NYSCA, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Quebec Government House, Étant Donnés: The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts and Association Beaumarchais (France). She was recently awarded a 2010 NEA Translation Fellowship and participated in the first TippingPoint USA - a conference that facilitates dialogue between artists, scientists and educators, and encourages an exploration of the broader cultural challenges precipitated by climate change. Her many translations include plays by contemporary playwrights Larry Tremblay ( Quebec ), Koffi Kwahulé ( Côte d'Ivoire ) and Mohamed Kacimi ( Algeria ).

The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. The Foundation's grantmaking focuses on three program areas: Arts, California Democracy and Youth. Since 1937 the Foundation has provided over $1 billion in grants to more than 3,000 nonprofit organizations throughout California . With $1.4 billion in assets, the Foundation made grants of $67 million in 2009 for the people of California .

To post a comment, you must register and login.