A city on the fringe: There's nothing straight up in BooTown's vision

When your Italian teacher sweetie dons a pink tie with the words "Barbie" written on it, that could be a good sign it's time to move on. That particular boyfriend and other romances gone bad inspired Jennifer Doctorovich's Lemon Drops, which premieres Thursday at Boheme as part of BooTown's third annual Houston Fringe Festival. (other Fringe events start tonight).

According to Doctorovich, horrendous breakups make good theater.

"I know bad dates have been done a lot, but I have a different hook, in that I am interested in that moment you know a relationship is over and it's time to leave; the spell is broken and you get that cringing quality," she says. "It's fictional, but somewhat related to my own dating history.

"We are so busy falling in love we don't take the time to know who that person really is because we are lulled into a false sense of security."

Doctorovich is part of a cadre of local and out-of-town artists proud to be presenting their work at the Festival this year.

They say you can judge a city's arts spunk by the health of its fringe festival. OK, maybe I said that. But it's true, there's a delicate ecology in the arts; nurturing the artsy edges feeds the cultural stream. We need places for artists to get their feet wet, try out new ideas, succeed, fail and experiment.

I wrote about the need for incubation of new art a few weeks ago. It's crucial to raise the next generation of writers, actors and choreographers, otherwise I will be writing about bath towels.

Emily Hynds, BooTown's smart and savvy director, agrees. "Some of our founding members had been to fringe festivals," Hynds says. "It fits so well with our collaborative aesthetic."

She's right, it does. The vibe at BooTown is relaxed and welcoming, with an emphasis on theater as a social and accessible art.

The Festival is open to artists at any stage of development. It's completely noncurated, which means all an artist needs to do is apply.

"Houston lacks outlets to get new work produced. Finding the venue and marketing is often the hardest part of putting on a show. We fill that need," Hynds says. "Our venues welcome the Fringe Festers. They bring a crowd, so it's mutually beneficial."

You are not likely to see a straight up musical in a straight up theater with the BooTown name on it.

"Our focus is to do totally original theater pieces in non-theatrical venues. I know it sounds cheesy, but we want to have fun ourselves," she says. "We like to work in bars where people can hang out before the show, have some entertainment and continue to hang out some more." BooTown may be most known for Grown-Up Story Time, where anyone can submit a story, which will be read by a local actor.

The popular event goes down the third Tuesday of every month at Rudyard's and returns in July.

This year BooTown opened the Festival to dance artists, which entailed finding spaces with suitable floors.

"Why not open it up to dance? " Hynds says. "There's such a strong dance presence in the city. It was a struggle to make those dance connections, but this year we made it a priority."

Luckily, the local community opened their hearts and studios. The Houston Metropolitan Dance Center and Hope Center are participating venues this season. The Met Dance Company, China Cat Productions, the Colombian Orchid Ballet and Code f.a.d. Company make up the dance portion.

Autumn Mist Belk, artistic director of Code f.a.d., stumbled upon the Fringe Festival when looking for a place to perform outside of their home base in Raleigh, N.C.

"This is a great way to test out the show," Belk says. "It helps me know where to go next." Belk describes Fashion Briefs, a premiere based on the lives and work of eight fashion designers, as upbeat and funny.

For a writer like Doctorovich, the festival fills a needed niche. She plans to develop Lemon Drops into a one-woman show for Mildred's Umbrella Museum of Dysfunction series in December. Having a place to try it out in front of an audience is a crucial step in her process.

"Every city needs a fringe fest. We have to continue to embrace creativity and give opportunities to new talent," she says.

Let it be known that Houston is now a two fringe fest town. FrenetiCore's Houston Fringe Festival gets under way in August.

Yep, they're both called the Houston Fringe Festival. We are just a fringe-y city.

Reprinted from Culturemap.

Yes Men are anything but: Punking the press one story at a time

This just in, in a remarkable change of heart, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs has just announced that he, along with all his fellow looters in loafers, will give back their bonuses to start a fund for those who have lost their homes due to the hijacking scams of the famed Wall Street barons.

Or how about this:

British Petroleum, deeply concerned about the long-term implications of the recent mega oil spill, has donated profits to clean up the devastation. In addition, BP employees will be taking special bird-washing classes so they can spend their vacations cleaning up the Gulf Coast.

Maybe this is more up my alley:

The American Ballet Society has just released a statement of support for American female ballet choreographers, including special funds to commission major new works. They also acknowledged that has been way too long since a woman (perhaps never?) ran a major American dance company and seek to correct that within the year.

Can you tell I spent some time with The Yes Men?

Andy Bichlbaum specifically, during a How to be a Yes Men workshop as part of Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men, curated by Astria Suparak and organized by Feldman Gallery at Pacific Northwest College of Art and Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University. The show is up now at DiverseWorks and runs through June 5.

The Yes Men, Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno, are prankster/artists/identity correctors who are most famous for duping the BBC when Jude Finisterra (Bichlbaum) posed as a Dow spokesperson to announce that Dow was now taking responsibility for the Bhopal chemical disaster. The caper resulted in over 600 articles, drawing needed attention to the still growing health problems of those injured by the incident.

Other fabulous capers include posing as a spokesperson from the Chamber of Commerce, announcing that the not-so-green group has come out for stricter environmental protections, and a fake edition of The New York Times, hailing "The Iraq War is over." Their movie, The Yes Men Fixed the World, headlined the Cinema Arts Festival last fall.

"Corporations never do the right thing," Bichlbaum said to the attentive DiverseWorks crowd. The best you can do is shame them into admitting that they have no intention of doing the right thing. That's what happens when they send out the press release saying, no, we are not doing this or that, as in the right thing.

Bichlbaum wanted to bring the conversation to a local level, so he took ideas from the crowd. Turns out, there's a certain upscale grocery chain (they make that fabulous cheesy bread) that is interested in purchasing a piece of land near another grocery chain in a low-income area of the city. The land would make a great park.

So why not call a press conference, have a person impersonate a spokesperson from that unnamed grocery store announce they are, in fact, turning that lovely stretch of land into a park and community garden.

Not so fast. Bichlbaum advises to do your homework. Who is the target? Is it the city or the store? The goal is to activate voters, to raise public awareness, support and possibly outrage.

"What about legal issues?" asked a Yes Men wannabe. "We will get to that later," sidestepped Bichlbaum.

The Yes Men outlined a step-by-step action plan, most of which is outlined on their website and in their handy workbook. Everything from how to create a fake website, to the timing of press releases, video tips, the total ins and out of punking the press is yours for the taking. You can even have a fake "real" corporate spokesperson come in to stop the whole thing.

"It's even better when the real people show up. That's what happened at the Chamber of Commerce. The real guy came charging in to stop us," Bichlbaum remembered. "We could not have asked for a better prop."

According to Bichlbaum, the press doesn't mind being misled. "They have fun with it, and usually get a good story out of it," he said. "Most get it pretty quickly."

That's where you hit them with the follow-up interview. When they ask why you would do something stupid like impersonating someone, say, "Speaking of stupid", and launch into your talking points. You can even send a come clean press release that points to action plans and activist organizations that are already working on the problem. Keep in mind, those activist organizations may or may not want to be implicated.

"You might want to call them beforehand. Then, send a fake hand-wringing press release from the corporation, where they admit they have no intention of doing such and such. The corporation might send a real one, too. That's the best situation."

Imagine you wanted to throw some attention on a local school board that has eliminated arts funding. So you set up a nice press conference announcing it has restored arts funding, perhaps even added funding. Don't forget to serve beer and food. Once the press gets wind of the fake story, the real fun starts.

The real school board would then have to send a press release stating it has not restored arts funding, often sounding a bit, well, cold and heartless in the process. This situation ends up being your protection from those pesky "legal" issues. It makes them look really creepy by going after you.

Yes Men-ing is not for the faint of troublemaking. It takes considerable planning, tech savvy and access to one kick-ass press list. Sounds like a ton of work to me. I might just go Yes Men lite and crash a Tea Party with a sign reading, "Thanks FDA for keeping arsenic out of my baby formula, or some other gov-lovin' sentiment. I will make sure to misspell something so I blend in.

Workshop participants less lazy than I left scheming and plotting. Watch out Houston! All the details on how to Yes Man-ize yourself are here.

As for the question on getting into trouble — absolutely. Plan on it.

Reprinted from Culturemap.

Kicking and screaming to summer arts program fun: Don't ask your kids, just bring 'em

I was a bit of a clunky mom, the one you felt sorry for in the Target parking lot with snugglie/stroller issues. Even my own kids suspected they were with an amateur. From time to time they would offer advice.

Once, I baked cookies. My then 5-year-old son pulled me aside, "Mom, you don't have to do this, they sell them at the store."

The one thing I got right was exposing my two sons to the arts. Maybe you don't want to get lost in the woods with my boys (although they would keep you entertained), but they can talk about art with the best of them.

I took a page from my father's book. He never asked, "Who is in the mood for George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple?" Nah, he just piled us into the station wagon and off we went to the opera, ballet, theater or an exhibit. It works the same way around chez Wozny. Our art road trips are the price of the roof, like church, except they often include a trip to our fave family cheap eats, Tacos A Go Go.

Rule number one: Kids like art better after a tasty meal.

Houston is just jumping with fine children's arts programs. If I listed them all here, your kids would be grown by the time you finished reading this. Instead, I want to highlight a few that have crossed my path during my time as a CultureMap art sleuth.

It's Saturday morning, the kids are rested, in a good mood, and have a belly full of organic Cheerios, what should you do? Pack the tots into the car and head directly over to the Wortham Center at 10:30 am for The Adventure of Baroque Music, presented by Mercury Baroque. The early music troupe has had an in-school outreach program for a while now, but this is the first time they have offered a public concert.

"We wanted to expand the program to everyone," Antoine Plante, Mercury Baroque's artistic director, says.

The very animated Ana Trevino-Godfrey will lead the festivities, which include an adventure across Europe though music and story. Plante even throws some history in there. It's 1704, and England is at war with France, which wreaks havoc when Queen Anne's oboist can't get a hold of any French wood necessary for making reeds. It's no wonder Plante makes children a priority audience; he grew up with two early musician parents in a home with 150 period instruments.

Also on Saturday, you can see what Jane Weiner has been up to with Kid's Play: Skool of Rock at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Barnevelder. Weiner, artistic director of Hope Stone Dance, directs Kid's Play, a program that includes dance, theater, music, photography and yoga.

"The arts offer so many ways for kids to find their voice," Weiner says. "Art strengthens, empowers and heals."

No stranger to working with youth, Weiner directed the Youth Arts Program for at-risk teens at the famed Bates Dance Festival for 15 years. Weiner, who is bit of jokester, suddenly becomes very serious when it comes to young people. "I think children are America's greatest asset," Weiner says. "They are like dolphins in that they are smarter than we are."

Weiner understands. She got hooked on dance watching Pennsylvania Ballet's Nutcracker. " Watching that sea of white tulle, I was zapped then and there," she says.

Kid's Play has been so successful, she's taking it to New Orleans in June.

When pirouettes trump SpongeBob

Getting youngsters to cozy up to modern dance is no piece of cake. Just ask the Wozny boys, who had fully hoped to go to college on major scholarships from the foundation for "Children who have seen too much modern dance."

Karen Stokes thinks we need to leave a few crumbs to better decipher dance, so she created Framing Dance, a snappy intro to dance program for schools. Stokes, artistic director of Travesty Dance Group and head of the Dance Division at University of Houston's School of Theatre & Dance, wants to answer the question "What does it mean?"

"In dance, that often goes unanswered. Dance needs framing because it's the least accessible and most ephemeral art form," Stokes says. Whether it's learning how dance can tell a story or be just about patterns in space, Framing Dance hands children the keys to dance, such that they feel successful in watching it. The response has been huge.

"Laughing, applauding, asking questions, telling us their favorite piece, we just get intoxicated from their reactions," Stokes says.

Anthony Brandt is super proud of Around the World with Musiqa, an interactive program for elementary school children, now in its sixth year. Brandt isn't the only one who's impressed, the program is a three-time National Endowment for the Arts Award winner. "If I have one abiding conviction, it's that music is not elitist," Brandt, Musiqa's artistic director, says. "The people who wrote the music came from every possible background."

Around the World hones in on folk songs, but here's the catch, the children have already learned the songs ahead of time because Karol Bennett traveled to each participating school to teach them. "They count on being part of the show," Brandt says. Today, Musiqa is busy coming up with a middle school program..

InterActive Theater Company's name says it all. If you want kids to love theater, they need to be onstage helping the story get told. "With InterActive you don't just see the story, you are part of it," boasts Angela Foster, InterActive's director. InterActive has adapted everything from Texas history to poetry. Hallmarks of their method include improvisation, original scripts and actors playing multiple roles.

Check out Peter Pan going on right now. InterActive just wrapped up Peter & the Wolf, their first partnership with River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) at the Children's Museum. ROCO deserves kudos for ROCOrooters, where kids get to learn and listen, and the parents get to go out to dinner after the show. Smart move ROCO.

Finally, I can't tell you how much the MFAH has been the Wozny clan's home away from home. The programs for families, students and educators are a lifeline.

No discussion about young people and art would be complete without a shout out to Ray Carrington III and his students at Jack Yates High School. Carrington puts a camera into the hands of high school students, often for the very first time, to document Houston's historic Third Ward. Eye on the Third Ward is now a major archive of this evolving neighborhood. How amazing is that?

So get those kids out of the house and into some art. It worked for me. Plus, I got out of baking cookies. I will never forget the time someone asked, "Who is Jackson Pollock?" within earshot of my then 12-year-old.

He launched into a spontaneous lecture on Jackson's athletic mark making. I thought to myself, "That's my boy."

Reprinted from Culturemap

The Bodycation: Have an In-Body Experience

“Your body is a wonderland,” croons pop star John Mayer. Well, I hope so. Our bodies are the cheapest playgrounds I know of; where else can you have a totally in-depth experience without moving your car? Vacations are about taking in something new, letting go of working hard and refreshing our neural-wiring. They are also about being able to return to your life rejuvenated with a new perspective.

Everyone already knows about yoga, pilates and the numerous dance classes available in Houston. But there are more off of the beaten track ways to take an in-body vacation. Here are some of my favorites.

Yamuna Body Rolling, developed by Yamuna (she goes by one name, like Cher), uses different size balls that you rest and roll on, lengthening those pesky muscle and stubborn fascial tissues. Yamuna means “river,” so there's lots of flow. Joyce Yost Ulrich, a level three Yamuna teacher, a pilates expert and a former Houston Ballet dancer, leads us through a series of stretches for our hips, flexors, hamstrings and tight calve muscles. “Yamuna is great at getting at the front of the spine, which is often neglected,” says Ulrich. “And the work perfectly complements pilates and yoga. Plus, balls are fun and playing is part of the method.” So, not only do you get a little vacation, but you come back with more space. I left feeling dreamy, loose and very three-dimensional. Ulrich teaches at Hope Center and in her Treehouse studio.

The Feldenkrais Movement is all about going to new places in your body and mind. But the way you do that is by lying quietly on your back, on a soft mat performing tiny and delicate movements in a dark room. You gently re-pattern your body into more efficient functioning. That sounds good, but it feels even better. When you re-calibrate your effort, you feel as if someone took an elephant off your back. People mostly float away after class, or at least I do. “There's an old saying that 'a change is as good as a rest,'” says MaryBeth Smith, founder of the Feldenkrais Center of Houston. “People don't realize that the overall pattern of their lives is 'go go go,' and so even activities we usually view as pleasurable can start to feel stale and stressful. We seem to thrive when we have novelty and variation in our patterns.” Movements are unusual enough to be engaging, but comfortable enough that you feel safe and not stressed. Smith teaches at the C. G. Jung Center, Pilates Houston, the Caroline Collective and MD Anderson.

The Alexander Technique, founded by actor F.M. Alexander in the 1890s, concerns the relationship between the head and the rest of the spine. “Move the head up and forward, and the spine will follow,” is the now-famous motto of the technique, practiced widely by actors, musicians and dancers. Alexander was an actor who lost his voice. When he began to pay attention to what he was doing in his own body that was preventing his full use of his self, he learned how to inhibit unnecessary habits. “We are born with this upward instinct. We just need to stop interfering with it,” says Chris Lidvall, one of Houston's leading Alexander teachers. “Gravity is not the enemy; in Alexander, we move up into gravity.” Lidvall works one-on-one and in group settings helping individuals do whatever they do better, whether that is playing the piano or just getting up from a chair. In a private session, you may in fact just stand and sit while Lidvall gently places her hands on your neck, ribs and hips. You keep your clothes on and your eyes open during an Alexander lesson. Some table work is involved, so comfortable pants work best. Lidvall may completely take over the movement of an arm or leg. That's the vacation part. You get to feel, sense, and take a break from doing. “We are always doing,” she says. “In Alexander, we learn to stop, pay attention and find an easier way.” Plan to feel lighter and more at ease.

Gyrokinesis (the movement component of Gyrotonic) was founded by former ballet dancer Juliu Horvath while on the Island of St. Thomas in the 1970s, so you know it's gonna give you at thrill. Horvath calls his method “yoga for the dancer,” but you don't have to be a dancer to give it a try. Joseph Modlin, a pilates, Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis teacher, welcomes all levels of fitness to his Hope Center classes. Using a stool, Modlin leads us through a series of spiral-like moves that flow in and around the spine, which arches and curls continually. Then we hit the mat for more circular fun. The curves add flow, so you don't even notice that it's a bit strenuous. The easy to follow movements keep the class moving, while Modlin gives subtle direction and occasional flashes of his famous wit. The stool makes it accessible for everyone too. “Life, blood and our breath flows in circles, which is why the class is so calming and soothing,” says Modlin, who is also member of Hope Stone Dance Company. “I relate it to waking up in the morning; the class is like a fresh start.” Of all the in-body experiences, this is the most active. Expect to feel energized and very connected afterwards.

Continuum Movement takes the flow concept a step further and deeper, so consider a Continuum class your most exotic body-based excursion. Developed by somatic pioneer Emilie Conrad, Continuum is about restoring the vitality of our fluid systems. “Without water, there is no life,” says Patty Adamik, Houston's sole Continuum teacher. “On a cellular level, all processes within our body occur in a fluid medium. We are basically aquatic beings that carry our ocean within ourselves.” Through a series of breaths and easy to learn movements, elasticity is restored and vitality returns. There's also a strong emphasis on going to new places. You may find yourself hanging off a chair to re-acquaint yourself in gravity. No previous training is required, and Adamik welcomes people of all fitness levels. A Continuum exploration is called a dive that you can go deep into, to discover the depths of your watery birth. “Think of it as a fantastic voyage,” says Adamik, who is trained in several body/mind practices. “It's like shrinking yourself down to notice any tiny shifts and impulses that you are able to pay attention to.” For advanced students, week-long retreats feature silence and sometimes total darkness for a total restoration experience. Adamik introduces students to the premises behind the work at the C. G. Jung Center and Nia Moves Houston.

For a listing of online resources related to this article and links to local training facilities, please visit us online at AbsolutelyInTheLoop.com.

reprinted from Absolutely in the Loop.