San Diego Weekend Arts Events: A Hanukkah Play, Los Lobos, SDSU Art Gallery And Festive Choral Music
Speaker 1: 00:00 Holiday themed arts events are in the air this weekend, and everything is available for you to safely experience from home. Plus for something completely different, a new virtual exhibition of art that has nothing to do with this season. Journey me as KPBS arts producer and editor, Julia Dickson Evans, with all the details. Hi Julia. Speaker 2: 00:21 Hi Maureen. Thanks for having me Speaker 1: 00:23 Now. Hanukkah began last night and you have a great family friendly event for us. Tell us about the temple and the secret code. Speaker 2: 00:32 Yeah. So this is a partnership between several theaters and new village arts is bringing it to our region virtually it's a kid participation interactive virtual program. Parents can download some printables or write out the text for the kids and gather a few household items to have on hand for the sleep thing. These are small groups, um, about 10 kids per seeding so that the actors can interact with each of them. And there was a few showings that the day, each day until Hanukkah ends next Friday, the premise is a brother and a sister team sharing stories from their grandpa's storybook. While the detectives, the audience will try to solve clues and crack the secret code to get into the temple. So there's plenty of action and lots of stories and Hanukkah history. It's cute and can be a little bit silly. So I think parents in grade schoolers will especially love it. Here's a tiny sneak peek Speaker 3: 01:27 When we say clue, hold it up. So we know what everyone has it. And while you do, I'm going to keep playing Speaker 2: 01:42 That said J company, you theater's production of the temple and the secret code it's presented in our partnership with San Diego's new village arts. So it's a great way to support our local theater company too. And as a side note, new village arts is also presenting a stream on demand version of their Holly jolly cabaret show that drops starting on Monday. So contemporary holiday hits show tunes with local actors and singers. Plus I preview of their own brand new original holiday musical, and that will hit the stage hopefully in the 2021 holiday season. Speaker 1: 02:17 So new village arts has plenty going on this holiday season. There J company, youth theater partnership on the temple. And the secret code brings us that family Hanukkah interactive play with performances each day through December 18th. Now, many of our beloved holiday performance traditions are built around singing, but singing together is one of the hardest things to pull off during this pandemic. So how are some choral groups still bringing us performances this year? Speaker 2: 02:47 Yeah, it really is hard to pull off, but so many local groups are still making great things happen. Let's take a look at soccer profanity. They're a local choral ensemble. Who've been churning out some really inventive, adaptive work during the pandemic. So they have a rendition of Gary Newman's cars, for example, with all the singers in cars. And it turned out as a really cool video that their free virtual holiday concert takes place. Saturday night, they'll screen some past performances of recent holiday concerts and previous recordings and director. Juan Carlos Acosta will host the event. These bringing in some of the composers to discuss the works. One of the cool things about this event is that much of the music is written by living composers. A great example is their performance of an arrangement of angels. We have heard on high by LA based Filipino composer, Sonder choy. Here's a sample Speaker 4: 04:36 [inaudible] that Sacra profounder performing an arrangement of angels. We have heard on high part of their free virtual holiday concert tomorrow at 7:00 PM in the visual art world. There's a new interactive virtual exhibition from the SDSU art gallery. Tell us about upon closer inspection. Speaker 2: 04:56 This just opened this week with works from three women artists, each from a different discipline and background that showed digs into things like West African heritage rituals identity and the trauma of the slave journey through photography or drawings and textiles that pull from the stories of Vietnamese refugees and one intriguing method. Artists, Claire warden uses saliva on film and other Mark making processes and photography in her work. And that tries to understand the narratives of power and identity. It's not only really incredible works of art, but it's an impressive platform too. It's like a virtual tour where you can navigate through the gallery on your computer or your touch screen and tap each work as it's hanging on the walls to see it close up or read the card is not the same of course, but it really does make me feel more like I'm wandering the gallery than just clicking through pictures online and also not a holiday theme insight. Speaker 4: 05:55 Okay. Upon inspection Speaker 1: 05:58 Is on view from the SDSU art gallery in a new virtual exhibition, 24 seven. Now through the end of March and finally a little so Cal rock and roll Los Lobos will live stream a special holiday show from the belly up tonight. Speaker 2: 06:15 Yeah. So Los Angeles based Los Lobos who are famous for their rock takes on traditional, um, popular Mexican teams as well as bringing a folk influence into top 40 music. And they were regulars on the belly-up station in the before times. And they're bringing a holiday show to us now with the theme we're still at home for the holidays and that's streaming tonight. Here's a little clip from a Los Lobos, rendition of love Rama or the branch from the holiday album. They released last year. It's in a regional folk style known as sown roadshow from the Vira Cruz region in Mexico and LA Rama is also a traditional holiday custom where neighbors decorate branches and parade through the streets. Here's my mama. Speaker 5: 07:21 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 07:21 Los Lobos. They're streaming tonight at 7:00 PM. From the belly up, you can find more arts and winter holiday events and sign up for the weekly KPBS arts newsletter@kpbs.org slash arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dixon Evanson. Julia. Thanks a lot. Speaker 2: 07:41 Thank you, Maureen. Have a good weekend.
