S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today we're talking about the history behind San Diego's Filipino food scene. Then we'll take you to the Fringe Festival and give you a preview of art you can see this weekend. I'm Jade Hyndman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. A new exhibit showcases Filipino food culture and its history here in San Diego.
S2: When you think of Filipinos , most of it really relates to the most common of like pancit and Olympia like food. But we want to expand upon that.
S1: Also , Beth Accomando takes us to the San Diego International Fringe Festival , and Julia Dixon Evans gives us a weekend preview. That's ahead on midday Edition. The rich and vibrant history of Filipino food culture in San Diego , and the community that drives it are the subjects of a new exhibit. It's returning to the San Diego History Center and will give the community a taste of history and of course , lots of good food. My next two guests are here to talk more about the exhibit and the stories they're bringing to the table. Doctor Tina Zargarpur is the VP for community engagement at the San Diego History Center. Also with us is Joe Mazar as the chair of the Council of Filipino American Organizations , also known as Ko Pao. Tina and Joe , welcome to you both. Thank you. So , Tina , I'll start with you. Tell us about the Taste San Diego series and what it's all about.
S3: Yeah , we like to think of Taste San Diego as a brand to the San Diego History Center. We opened our first exhibit just over two years ago , and it was called Taste San Diego Craft , Community and Culture and focused on San Diego's unique craft brewing culture. And we featured that history in the exhibit , as well as an experiential component with beer docents to do beer tastings on the weekends. And in the last few months , we've closed that exhibit and are now shifting gears and have been working with Joe and the committee from Copo to develop what we see as a next iteration as Taste San Diego Filipino culinary journeys. And we've had a lot of fun working with the committee. The difference here is that we're actually expanding the concept. I think we are integrating more culture and history and more contemporary culture , as well as opportunities for learning about food and food tastings as well.
S1: That sounds great.
S2: And prior to this , about a year ago , I was brought in to do all in San Diego. I know Tina will talk a little bit about that later , but it was to interview different individuals in the Filipino community representing today's community members. And from that was kind of this discussion of like , wouldn't it be great to have another exhibit that focused on the Filipino community , especially in San Diego ? And when you think of Filipinos , most of it really relates to most the most common of like Pancit and Olympia. Right , food. But we wanted to expand upon that. Really kind of look at people and places. And then when I thought more about it and then talking with like , say , community members and committee members that helped put this exhibit , we really wanted to kind of shine kind of this development of our community from its founding primarily as an immigrant community with the Navy stewards , and then now going to some of the more celebrated chefs like tiramisu anime. And in between that are all these different stories of , you know , restaurants and the uniqueness of the different restaurants , like our point. Point joints or we call them turtle turtle that people go to , which is uniquely Filipino in terms of a fast food casual make up. The Seafood City , which is the first one in the nation that was here in National City that was first built here. And then , um , you know , I got in touch with some folks in Palawan , Philippines , that started a craft brewery in its iteration came from San Diego , where the individual kind of lived in San Diego , got into craft brew and then said , let me take one of these kits and start craft brew in the Philippines. And so they were the first one that's developed. It's been there and helped generate 34. And the last one is we just finished an exhibit creating an exhibit in Chula Vista. The Filipinos of South Bay , and one of the parts of the exhibit was featuring the family lumpia and family in Olympia was based in National City , but they were kind of like a mom and pop lumpy business that got a contract and are now available in all the Navy exchanges throughout the world. Wow. So then looking at like San Diego , you know , sometimes it gets overshadowed with some of our bigger metropolitan areas. But our community is very rich and vibrant and has all these contributions , not only just in the city , but beyond the city.
S1: Well , and there's a long history there , too , with all of this food.
S2: So really helping people kind of remember a little bit of their history of like before we had Seafood City Island Pacific or 99 ranch or even Hoochie Chong of some people can remember that. That , you know , most of us had to grow our foods in our home. So we have a little bit of exhibit that references and homage to our backyard gardens. We think about the food offerings to those who've passed on in our altars , in our homes , and we even have kind of a little makeup of a Filipino kitchen that people will find there. So , you know , one of the neat things that we have is juxtaposition of someone who was a Navy steward who actually worked in the white House , and we have some dishes on display from the white House. And next to it is a reference to the famous comedians , Jo Koy , who did a little YouTube Tupperware commercial. And so you'll see how Filipinos have saved Tupperware or different kind of plastics in their kitchens as reusables. But again , it just again shows again about our thriftiness and frugality and a little bit about that history of knowing that , you know , the immigrant generation came from the World War Two generation , which was a much more frugal. And then , of course , now you have folks who have the capacity and a little bit of wealth to be able to afford a nice fine dining meal and anime.
S3: And the committee has really pushed us to as as an exhibit team and as a museum to really kind of have new ways of thinking about process and exhibits and , and what we bring to the light and the idea of , of , you know , you know , we've already shied away from we already dismissed the idea of curating. Right. And it's really like it's that idea of of working together in that conversation of like , okay , this is significant , but how is it significant ? Why is it significant ? Let's work together. Let's communicate that. What's the important message to communicate to the audience about this ? Right. It's to really bring that sense of family identity place into the exhibit. You know , it's a limited space , always in a museum. We have limited resources. How do we really , you know , try to communicate some of these complex ideas around the theme of culinary journeys. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. I mean , a big focus of the exhibit was to make it more of a community oriented experience. Can you talk about that and some of the ways you're really bringing the San Diego community together.
S3: Well I think we are. We do that at the History Center in a lot of different ways and a lot of different projects for us. Like , well , the way that we approach exhibits is an exhibit is a process , and an exhibit is a manifestation of a relationship and a set of relationships. Most of the exhibits that we take on are working with community partners of all different stripes , groupings and themes and topics. Joe , mentioned briefly , are all in San Diego Initiative , which is kind of a brand new arm of the San Diego History Center that we've launched in the last year and a half , primarily with some funding from the state State Museum program grant. and it's basically focused on community history , archiving , and how do we collect and show the history of San Diego as it is experienced by people living today. And , you know , the San Diego of of the last 50 , 60 years that maybe the San Diego History Center , you know , we're trying to shift our mode of collecting from from being passive into a more of an active mode of collecting and engagement , because , you know , an exhibit is one way that we're working with the Filipino community and Copo specifically , but our commitment to showcasing that history or to preserving that history really goes beyond the exhibit. I think this exhibit is a is a point in time for us , and an exhibit is the most public invitation. Um , you know , we're in Balboa Park. We have to take advantage of that setting. We have a lot of people that wander in wanting to learn about San Diego , and this is an important and critical piece. And I think working with the the committee. You know , I think everybody is so vested in this. And we've had , you know , work , work parties and everybody coming in and making things and ideating and it's been it's been really wonderful. You know , we've learned and we're learning as we go along to and how , you know , how we do things and shaking it , shaking things up a little bit.
S1: Yeah that's great. And of course you're highlighting some of the tastemakers in our region.
S2: So , you know , most times when you think of an exhibit museum exhibit there , there may be kind of areas in times during restoration that you'll bring in a speaker , you know , maybe you may do a food demonstration. And of course , that is something that we plan to do. You know , we may have a karaoke night that's there , but we've also gone out and done some interviews with some key individuals , like like , of course , tiramisu with Chef Larry from various enterprises with , um , some local couple that open up McKinnon donuts. And we've done some interviews with them , so we'll have pictures of them , Highland display , but we will edit the videos and have those videos available for people to watch and see. So this again is hopefully an extension that lives beyond just the museum that is archiving the history for others to see. And then on the experiential side , I mean , every weekend we hope to be able to have well , we will I won't say hope. We will be having food and beverage. You know , obviously , because of the last exhibit , the History Center had to invest in a cake for.
S1: The cake. Parade.
S2: Parade. And so , um , we sat there and imagined , said , you know , there are Philippine branded or Filipino inspired. So when guests come , you'll be able to kind of have a tasting of either some Filipino beers , flavored beers , ginger beer like an ube , ginger beer or coffee and ube flavored coffee and calamansi lemonade. And then on the savory side. I mean , we definitely will have , you know , dishes of pancit , maybe some lumpia once in a while and , and then desserts. And so all these are provided by local businesses. And we'll be able to kind of showcase them and show them. And I think that's I think that's one of the most remarkable opportunities when we talk about an experience and activations that not only get to see and read and kind of learn a little bit about history , but then you get to experience it and kind of feel it through these foods. And also know that you're supporting small businesses here in San Diego. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Now , one thing I've never heard of is an ube beer.
S2: Um , but it's very flavorful as well. It's a little purple.
S3: I tried some. Yesterday.
S4: Yesterday. Yeah. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. It was , it was I was surprised. It was really good. I shouldn't have been surprised , but it was. It was very , very tasty. I had no problem slurping that down. So. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's very interesting. Well , you know , speaking of chefs , uh , as you were just talking about , we actually sat down with one who contributed to the exhibit , Chef Larry or Larry Banaras. He's currently the executive chef at Vegas Casino. We asked him about why it's important to bring this history to the forefront.
S5: I think what what we want to do is introduce number one people to our culture , our influence here in Southern California and our great food scene , our great restaurants team and what we do as chefs , American born or migrant chefs to come to have people experience our food more. And again , it's a shame that we don't have a rightful place. We don't stand shoulder to shoulder with all the other great Asian foods that we always have to explain ourselves. And it's expensive and it's lumpia. And some people know about adobo.
S1: Uh , well , something that stuck out to me , Joe , about that was breaking stereotypes and going beyond the dishes that everybody knows. I'd love to get your thoughts on that.
S2: Yeah , I mean , that's what's deeply embedded in this exhibit. When you take a bite out of Filipino cuisine , you actually are tasting the richness of our culture in terms of , you know , the history , the colonization of of influences , the traditions that we maintain today and as well as kind of our indigenous roots. And we forget about that. We forget about how Filipinos really is an agglomeration of of all types of Asian cultures as well as US culture here. And so there have been spurts in time that we've gained some notoriety. I mean , a decade ago we had folks like Andrew Zimmerman and Anthony Bourdain that kind of highlighted Filipino food. New York Times about five years ago talked about it as kind of one of the next big craves and , you know , kind of dissipates. And now it's back up on an upswing , especially locally. And I think that's just one thing for us as a community and a culture to talk about , you know , how do we elevate it , how we embrace it. And the hardest thing about that , I would say also to the point , is that the Philippines has , you know , over 7000 islands , kind of three major areas. And when you think of the Philippines and you think about a nation state , the one thing that's really unique is that each region has their own interpretation and influences. So if you're in the South , the South was kind of really kind of influenced by Indonesia , you know , and kind of your , your fragrances from that space versus the North is more Chinese influenced. And so you can tell that from the different types of rices , the different types of noodles and dishes. And I think that's the hardest part , is that you , because you go to a Filipino restaurant when we have it here in San Diego that even for Filipinos , it's hard to kind of say that this is claims that this is kind of our dish because it's much more family oriented , it's much more home oriented , and people will compare it to what your mom or grandmother made it. Right , right. So it's it's kind of hard to kind of have this kind of national , you know , flavor. We know it's a dish that , like adobo , becomes the defunct kind of national dish , but the way it's made can be very different in terms of having spices or vinegar or no vinegar , you know , or dry or not dried. And I think that's that becomes part of the difficulty of how to translate that to the American palate or to a more general palate , to say that , oh , this is what adobo tastes like. But you go to another restaurant , it's like it's a little bit different. Yeah , yeah. But you know , again , we we have much larger communities these days. And especially when you think of San Diego , where two out of three Asian Americans are Filipino , that every kind of industry workplace has a Filipino and knows what a Filipino party in the potluck is. So it's it's rising. It's it's raising again and raising the profile. And I think it helps that at one level we have the national notoriety from like someone who's getting a James Beard Award that then influences everything on the downstream. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S3: We know about 60% of our audience is out of from out of our county. And I think the tourism bureau , you know , speak of what San Diego is or what people come to San Diego for is , you know , they might they sometimes they come to Balboa Park , but they know about the beaches and they know about the beer culture , and they know about certain things , but they don't know , really , all of the aspects of who we are as a community and the , the fabric of of how we've , you know , how that makeup has happened for , for San Diego. So , you know , I'm , you know , those opportunities for us to highlight the local chefs and makers and , and , and have people experience Filipino cuisine , I think it's going to be also very unique in the park. Right. We've already had a very positive feedback from the folks that have come. We've done some preview weekends , and staff from around the park have come and and things have sold out. Which is , which is really which is really nice. So it's it's something that is a , it's a taste of San Diego that you're not necessarily going to get if you're just here for a week.
S1: So yeah. Joe , how about you ? Yeah.
S2: What I want or what we hoped for visitors to experience is that , um , understand a little bit more about Filipino culture , more than just the punts and , and Olympia that they've been served. Right. But more especially for our kababayan , our countrymen , and especially the younger generation , that this is a history that's not taught in our schools. You know , it's just limited. And so this is an opportunity because , you know , we've been in San Diego , Filipinos being we have been in San Diego , you know , dating back as far as the Spanish galleons. And we know that history hasn't really been fully documented. And so this gives an opportunity for second , through even six generations of Filipinos even living here in San Diego , one to get connected and get to know San Diego History Center , because we know a lot of local residents also may have not visited. Secondly , that these , uh , are younger generation , um , begins to kind of be inspired and think about opportunities and careers in the culinary industry , but then also give reverence to our families and especially our parents and , and of course , the the Navy. Stuart , who started from humble beginnings , you know , um , and had the opportunity to promise as immigrants and then from the succession of kind of their children have now kind of been able to kind of raise and elevate the community in many different ways. And so that's what I hope that will take away , is that not only just instilling a sense of pride , but then , um , being able to kind of maybe think about getting into deeper conversations and be a little bit more introspective and hopefully being able to kind of promote more about what it means to be Filipino. Um , more than just food. Yeah.
S4: Yeah.
S1: I've been speaking with Tina Zargarpur , VP of community engagement at the San Diego History Center and Joe Mesa's chair of copal. The exhibit takes San Diego Filipino Culinary Journeys , will have its launch event today at the San Diego History Center from 6 to 8 p.m. you can register online. Tickets are $10. Tina. Joe , thank you so much.
S4: Thank you.
S2: Thank you for the time , I appreciate you.
S1: Coming up , Australian comedian and storyteller Matt Harvey recounts workplace tales anyone can identify with.
S6: It was really interesting to have this , what I call a intercontinental trauma bond over poor government choices.
S1: Arts reporter Beth Accomando previews a San Diego International Fringe Festival with Harvey when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. The San Diego International Fringe Festival kicks off what it calls 11 days of eyeball bursting shows. This year , there are 45 shows from local , national and international artists. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando speaks with Australian comedian and storyteller Matt Harvey about his show , Rage Against the Machine. Take a listen.
S7: I first saw Matt Harvey perform Rage Against the Machine at New Zealand Fringe in 2023. That same year , he came to San Diego Fringe to do a show called I Was Bit by a monkey once , for which I gave him the first Fringe Geek Award of appreciation for a show , because he made me laugh at his poor life choices and was the only show to include zombies. I love following fringe artists. Take Wendy Winner's , who was here in 2016 and this year returns as Mae West.
S8: And I've come back from my comeback tour. That's the name of the show. I was the highest paid actress in 1934. I pushed female sexuality in a way that was very masculine at the time. I came up to men and I made them feel like a piece of meat. You know what I mean ? You know , I was very subversive about it. Very , very specific. And then they they tried to censor me. I got arrested in 1927. I went to Roosevelt Island for eight days for my play sex. That's right. The police came in. It was the. Oh. Oh , I'm trying to remember. It was so long ago. I think corruption of youth was the charge. Yes. Then they came back again the next year for drag. And that's what attracts me so much to this fringe festival. It's 100% uncensored , which is exactly the way that I like it.
S7: And just to give you a little more sense of the diversity of fringe offerings , here are a few more artists with quick rundowns of their shows.
S9: My name is Jacqueline Witte , and I'm the director of a show that we are calling alteration. It is a combination of the ways that kind of like fashion really like molds your lives and like the removing of layers , the adding of layers to really create like your own style and really express yourself through fashion. And we're using circus as a story to tell that.
S10: I'm Sarah LeClaire and I'm representing Riot Productions. Our show is Death and Murder and Poison and Scene , and we sort of asked the question about this wacky murder mystery , A Perfect Crime , which is the longest running show Off-Broadway that still has a one star Yelp review. How has it been there for 30 years with the original cast ? And because they killed a bunch of people , obviously , and buried their bodies in the wall. So that's what our play is about. It's a silly murder mystery where the cast is trying to keep everything from going off the rails while trying not to murder each other , sometimes successfully , sometimes not.
S11: I'm Corey Hammond , and I am in Riot's production of Death and Murder and Poison and Scene , and I play Alice , the stage manager who very motherly , very militant , puts up with everybody in the show. All the diva behavior , all the method actor behavior. At first , I'm a little worried that things are going off the rails , but then , you know , at some point you got to give up and just lean into it and watch the train wreck. So that's kind of what Alice does. She tries to help when she can. And then she sits back and watches the house burn down.
S12: So hi everyone. I'm Izzy silent. I am the writer and performer of Do Better , which is part of its from Spot Corp events , which is the company that we run. Do better is a one person comedic drama with magic , or as I'm calling it , a tragedy that explores how we navigate life after unwavering grief. Sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh at the pain and do a card trick , and that's what we're doing.
S13: I'm Payton Ashby. I also work at Spark Events , which is producing our show and do better is really honestly , I viewed it as a method for catharsis. It's a vessel of being able to tell our stories in a way to hope that others can heal from.
S7: And now to Matt Harvey. Here's a clip from his show Rage Against the Machine at New Zealand Fringe.
S14: Attention , all staff. Attention all staff. If anybody sees Marcus walking around today , be sure to stop and congratulate him on the fine work that he's done keeping these people safe. Now , guys , I don't know if you remember until about an hour ago when I introduced myself. My name's not Marcus. My name is Matt. So it's a very clearly on the name badge I was required to wear as part of my uniform. Didn't even take a second to break eye contact and confirm. She's one of her big moment on the radio , and it didn't really matter to her who I was as long as she got to look good. I might not have been as miffed about this if Marcus was also a redhead. But guess what , guys ? Not only was Marcus not a redhead , Marcus didn't even work there anymore. Marcus had quit a full year before this even happened , so I was nobody to her. I was just a ghost in a uniform , just serving the duty of keeping everybody safe.
S6: So these stories are all stories about my old dodgy jobs. This thing called robo debt , which I got a $20,000 unlawful debt from the Australian government. And to cap it all off , the time I broke a 100 year old roller coaster.
S7: And I got to see you perform this show at New Zealand Fringe a few years ago. Have you changed it at all ? Does it feel more relevant now ? How does it.
S6: Yeah , yeah. So I've tightened it up a lot since then. Cut off some of the extraneous stuff and the show's done a fair few festivals since you saw it. And , um , I feel like it's it's a much better , a terrible show , but it definitely feels a lot more relevant than it did. Like , I remember just feeling like I was complaining about this thing that had happened. And as much as I wanted people to know about it , it still sort of felt like it was this thing that was in the past. But I will tell you this. The New Zealand government is looking to introduce a similar process , the automation of welfare , the kind of thing that led to robodebt in the first place in Australia. So in particular in New Zealand , it feels more relevant than ever. But I feel like governments have swung quite hard towards a lot of these conservative ideals and these ideals about saving money and cutting back on budget. And that was that was the starting point of the conversation for robodebt , which was we need to cut out the the fat and cut out the faff and make sure that the welfare system is running as efficiently as it can. So I feel like there's just echoes of this one thing , uh , sprinkled Throughout the governments and in the Western world increasingly.
S7: And bringing this show to the United States at this particular moment in time.
S6: The the landscape has evolved so much. I mean , I took it to Wellington where you saw it , and I took it to the Edinburgh Fringe , and I was like , is this going to be relevant to these audiences ? And it was wonderful to come off stage , especially the free fringe environment where people connect with you quite closely. They'll they'll see you on the way out because they'll donate to you on the way out. They had all these stories that they wanted to share , and they wanted to tell me about their own government and what their own government had done. And it was really interesting to have this , what I call a intercontinental trauma bond , over poor government choices. So I just feel that even if the exact machinations might not play out in your government , there is something for us to bond over. And when governments make poor choices.
S7:
S6: I wouldn't have this opportunity without fringe. So Melbourne , where I live , is a very blessed city in that we have both a fringe festival and arguably the world's largest comedy festival. Maybe just for laughs in Montreal is the biggest. It's one of those to get that opportunity to try something , to test the waters , to build a show that might not have the the legs in a mainstream art. That is what I find fascinating about fringes , and that's why I've gone to so many of them , and I just keep trying to find new ones where I think the messages and the stories will be relevant , and try and find audiences who are looking for a different story , or just want to hear something or know a little bit more about Australia as a country where , you know , I feel like we're this weird little mystery at the bottom of the planet that people sort of have an understanding about , in that there's sun and beaches and not much else. And so I just want people to sort of understand that we're just as troubled in Florida as anywhere else. We can share. It's fine.
S7:
S6: I tend to so I , I go see a lot of shows when I do fringe. And that's the joy of it for me , is just seeing how artists try different things and express themselves globally. And just seeing what what's on the scene , you know. I'll be in in Reykjavik in June , and I'm very curious to see what the Icelandic artistic scene is going to be like , because I'm sure it's not all Bjork , and I'm sure it'll be a really interesting experience. So I mean , sometimes it's just , is the show name interesting to you ? Does the show have an interesting image ? If you're the kind that will actually read a show description ? Is there a theme in there that resonates with you , even if it's the smallest little thing ? You should probably give it a go. Uh , I know that the cost of living is quite tough at the moment , but I feel like a lot of fringes are tailored towards the more affordable end of the arts. We're looking sort of , you know , 10 to $20 a show. And if I find that a sort of global consistent. And the nice thing about the Fringe Festival is you sort of have that ability to take a chance. There's not a cast of thousands , you know , with understudies and an extremely expensive theater that you need to cover the cost of. You can sort of keep costs low. Low enough that I can sort of take a one man show to many countries and do. Okay.
S7: You talked about your show being a storytelling comedy show. How would you kind of describe your style or your approach to comedy ? Haphazard.
S6: I mean , you just throw stuff at the wall until you find the stuff that sticks. You know , it's in the first show. It's just a lot of mistakes that I made. That was choices that I made , that were silly choices , and that formed the central theme of the show. This show is sort of more stuff that has happened to me. A lot of it is consequences of choices that I made , but I feel like it's the opposite end of that spectrum. And when you start to get up in front of people and share those experiences , you'd be surprised by how much people resonate with even like little things , the tiniest things that I didn't think people would connect with ? Like , how many people can say that they've broken a hundred year old roller coaster ? I'd say almost none. But that story , people just really connect with it and people just sort of get what it is and why it happened and how and how these sort of things can happen. And it's just a big no no thrill in meeting someone who has an experience that you can resonate with. Especially I'll go back to like , the government of it all. In the middle of my show is this big rebuke of the Australian government. And it's , I think sometimes it's just good to be able to see that there is a somebody else who understands , and somebody else who has a similar enough experience that you can be like , hey , you should check this thing out. We've got this thing going on. And when you go up on stage and you allow yourself to be a little bit vulnerable , as well as mix those jokes in there , because the jokes to get all Mary Poppins about it , the jokes is the sugar , The spoonful of sugar. And the story is usually the medicine. So you get up there. You you have this story that on the surface shouldn't be like robodebt , shouldn't be a funny story. A lot of very dire things happened. There was what I would call some major malfeasance of government practices. But you find the right approach. And , you know , I've trialled and aired this story many times , and I've had to , like , reshape it and take bits out and move stuff around and find the the smooth texture that makes it palatable , I guess , in this format. But yeah , it's a lot of trial and error. So it's if you're ever thinking about comedy , just know that it's a lot of audiences just being like , no , that's not it. And they're always correct. Like it's never them. It's always you. You've done something wrong and you've got to figure out how to Fix that.
S1: That was French artist Matt Harvey , speaking with KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando. San Diego International Fringe Festival runs today through May 25th at multiple venues , with its home base in Balboa Park. Coming up , Julia Dixon Evans shares all her top arts and culture picks for the weekend. KPBS Midday Edition is back after the break. You're listening to KPBS Midday edition , I'm Jade Hindman. This weekend , theater is the top ticket for arts around town. The San Diego International Fringe Festival kicks off and several local theater companies are opening new plays. We also have a fresh dose of visual art , dance and music. And joining us with all the details is KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans. Hey , Julia.
S15: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: Always great to have you in studio. So let's start with theater and your jazz African hair braiding at the La Jolla Playhouse. I'm really looking forward to seeing this one. Yeah.
S15: Yeah. So this is written by Jocelyn Bio , and it came straight from Broadway where it had its run extended several times. So , you know , it's good. This is set in Harlem in a hair braiding salon , and it follows a group of West African hair traders and the neighborhood women who frequent it. And the plot centers on the mother daughter relationship between Georgia and her daughter Marie , who just graduated high school. It's directed here at the Playhouse by Whitney White , who was also at the helm on Broadway. And yeah , this opens in low cost previews on Saturday with the official opening night next Friday. It'll be on stage through June 15th. Okay.
S1: Okay. Moxie theater has a new show that's opening up. It draws on service work. Tell us about the counter. Yeah.
S15: Yeah. So this is playwright Megan Kennedy's dramedy , and it just debuted in New York , also in the fall. It's about a waitress , Katie , and her customer , Paul , who comes in every single day. And they have this , like , imbalanced friendship. One of them can leave whenever he wants and the waitress cannot. And we see that the characters develop this relationship together. They deal with grief , depression , and above all , loneliness. And at moxie , which is this really great theater tucked away unassumingly in a strip mall in Rolando. It's directed here by Desiree Clark Miller costars Kate Rose Reynolds and Mark Stevens. Opening night is Friday and it's on stage through June.
S1: 1st and one more in theater. The Wagner New Play Festival wraps up at UC San Diego this weekend. Right.
S15: Right. This is more than a new play reading series. These are full productions of plays by MFA students at UC San Diego. And in the past , this has helped launch the careers of some really great playwrights. It's been running since the beginning of the month and finally wraps up this weekend , and there are still some shows with tickets available. Myelin Gray's mother lost this one is about a grieving son who kind of finds his mother in a dream and then , like , delves into it. And you can join the wait list for some of the other projects as well. These are at various stages around UC San Diego , including the Playhouse.
S1:
S15: It's called California Grown Plein Air. And there was an open call for plein air art that features San Diego County Farmers and Produce. It was judged by Katie Stokes , who is the editor of Edible San Diego magazine. And there's dozens of artists with work in the show and includes , like scenes from farmer's markets or flower fields and lots of our local farms. And it'll open up with a paint out on Friday morning. And then the opening reception is on Saturday from 230 to 430 at the Bonita Cultural Center.
S1: And there's only a few weeks left to see American Minimal at San Diego Museum of Art.
S15: Yeah , and I finally had a chance to see this a couple of weeks ago. And it's really this interesting collection of contemporary minimal pieces , and it's really quite big. It takes up a bunch of rooms in the museum. It centers on the museum's Frank Stella piece and also has work by Ellsworth Kelly , Gary Lang , John Cage and then Duane Valentine sculpture , just to name a few. And while you're there , be sure to pop upstairs , because there's also this it's much smaller exhibit. It's a modern Printmaking in Mexico exhibit. It's really fascinating , that's all , at San Diego Museum of Art.
S1: We have a few options for dance this weekend , ranging from ballet to contemporary.
S15: They're having their spring showcase , including all of their dance class performances for all ages , and a showcase of the San Diego Dance Theater Company dancers. And this is just on Sunday at the Lightbox Theater in Liberty Station. And they're having two shows , 330 and 5:30 p.m..
S1: And in ballet , we have a classic Shakespearean story.
S15: San Diego Ballet is doing their production of Romeo and Juliet. It's artistic director Javier Velasco has restaged this and kind of abridged the not just the script , but like the score to prevent it from overpowering the story. But mostly he's distilled the story down to focus on just the love story between these two characters. There's two shows , 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at Balboa Theater.
S1: Well , and for some family fun , there's a music and art festival coming up this weekend. Tell us about Golden Palooza.
S15: So Golden Palooza is a brand new festival. It's in Golden Hill and it has some live music from like , family friendly groups. There's school of Rock is doing some performances. The Golden Hill Elementary , Middle school , choir club and more. Even some performances from San Diego Junior Theater. And most of the festival is free , but you can buy an art experience pass that gets you access to a bunch of hands on art making activities , including a zine making workshop. But there are some free interactive art installations that you can do even if you don't buy that pass. There's a community canvas and then this community weaving project , and this is all on Saturday from 11 to 5 at the Golden Hill Rec Center.
S1: All right. So let's talk about live music.
S15: There's , um , Daniel Caesar and Friday , Saturdays. Janelle Monet , Foster the people , Portugal , the man , Sunday , Jason Mraz , crying bin , Gary Clark Jr , four non blondes , so many more. But local Helena Holleran is playing both Saturday and Sunday , and she entered this year's NPR Tiny Desk contest. And I absolutely loved her entry. The song is called Rococo Palace. She has this really mesmerizing voice and just her genre bending band is really talented.
S16: I'm trying to make some feel small diamond leather straps around this brain. Fog I'm ringing loud from heaven's gate.
S17: Not mine.
S15: So if you're planning on going to waterfront already , be sure to stop by and give the locals some love. But if you're looking for something a little different from a big festival , there's a show this evening at courtyard. Doors open at 6 a.m.. Music starts at 630. Love that early ? It's LA based levitation room , and they're playing with Mexico City garage rock band Los Blenders , who are great. This is a new single from the EP that just came out this month. It's called Nuestra Canciones de.
S18: Todos camino. El trabajo. Nosotros. O.
S15: And also performing our couple local bands , The Soles and also Pleasure Pill. Who has a new album on the way at the end of June ? They've been putting out some singles. And one of them is called My Way to You.
S17: I say I might.
S1: Wow , a little something for everyone there. And you can find details in more Arts events at our website at pbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS Arts reporter and host of our new podcast , The Finest. Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thanks.
S15: Thank you. Jade.
S17: Got to be on my ass. But.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
