Play to empower young girls

Middle school-age girls from around the county, including New Tampa, will put on a play tonight through Saturday about self-esteem, team building and achieving goals and dreams.

The Girlstories Theatre Project Powerstories serves hundreds of young girls in the Tampa Bay area. Director Janice Creneti leads the middle school girls from diverse backgrounds who attend a six-week summer drama intensive to prepare them to perform for the general public and elementary school groups during the year. 

"Power Up -  The Hero Within" is an original one-hour play with music and personal stories performed by middle school girls from the THE GIRLSTORIES THEATRE PROJECT.

The show is appropriate for all ages. The script was written by Fran Powers and Janice Creneti, musical direction by Janice Nepon-Sixt and choreography by Molly Parkes. The group recently received national recognition from the President's Committee of the Arts and Humanities as one of the top arts and humanities programs in the country. 

In addition to an in depth theatre curriculum, the project serves as the impetus to talk about important issues and to educate girls about achieving their goals and dreams.  While working on individual self-esteem, the girls also work on team building activities to form a cohesive, effective group.  At the end of the summer a one-hour play with four sections is created by staff and students.

The play takes place at the Ritz Ybor Theatre, 1503 7th Avenue. Tickets are $10 for general seating. 
Tickets can be reserved by calling Powerstories Theatre at 813-286-2345, or by contacting Fran Powers at Fran@Powerstories.com.

Showtimes are:
Today (7/30)  at 1:30 p.m. (all children free)
Friday, (7/30) at  7:30 p.m.  (children under age six free)
Saturday (8/1)  at  7:30 p.m. (children under age six free)

The Cast of Girlstories Theatre Troupe 2009-10 include: Isabella Birnbaum, Jackie Blossom, Jade Boone, Caitlin Campbell, Erin Coleman, Chloe Conaghan, Naomi Diaz, Kelly Gossett, Dominique Hagen, Gabrielle Harrison, Victoria Hoang (from Tampa Palms), Abby Huetteman, Katie Huetteman, Charis Lee, Kayla Lloyd, Meredith Mack, Alyssa Newby, and Connor Williams.

Here's a clip of the girls singing "Seize the Day."

Art event choices

Looking for something a little more cultural to do than throw spaghetti on the wall? Why not check out one of the ongoing art shows in the area.

• The “View Point” photography show runs through June 30 at the Great Frame Up, 1646 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Wesley Chapel. Call (813) 949-8832.

• “Following the Footsteps of Van Gogh,” works by local artist Terry Klaaren, during regular hours through September at the The 'Arc’ Gallery in the lobby of the Museum of Science and Industry, 4801 E Fowler Ave. Call (813) 987-6315.

• The Spring 2009 Art Exhibition from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave. The exhibition features work by artists with disabilities.

• What do museums do behind closed doors? Find out at Museum at Work exhibit from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through July 17 at the Contemporary Arts Musuem at USF, 4202 E Fowler Ave. See the process for photographing and documenting the collection with Peter Foe, curator of the collection. E-mail pfoe@arts.usf.edu

• The Sixty Minutes exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through July 2 in the West Gallery at the Contemporary Art Museum. Sixty Minutes is a single channel video program designed to highlight and explore artists' practice and influences. It is conceived to expose the diversity and complexity of artists' process and provide an inspiring critical space to research, analyze and debate contexts for practice.

Ballet

The Tampa Ballet Center performs its Spring concert at 3 p.m. today (May 24) in Theater 1 at the College of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave. $20. Call (813) 831-9660.

USF jazz professor receives Guggenheim fellowship

From the Times:

TAMPA -- A University of South Florida jazz professor has received a 2009 Guggenheim fellowship to create a five-movement composition that will fuse the traditions of jazz with contemporary symphony orchestra.

Chuck Owen is one of 180 fellows selected in 2009 across 62 disciplines, according to a release from the university.

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fund chooses fellows based on achievement and promise for continued accomplishment.

Owen — a jazz studies professor, composer and pianist — founded the USF Center for Jazz Composition, served as president of the International Association for Jazz Education and governor of the Florida chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and won outstanding educator awards including USF's President's Award for Faculty Excellence.

In addition to teaching, he leads Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge, a 17- to 20-piece band that includes many of Florida's top professional jazz musicians.

His Double Concerto for Saxophone, Guitar & Orchestra will be featured on a CD once it is completed under the fellowship, the release said. USF says Owen is the only 2009 Guggenheim fellow in Florida.

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On stage

Check out Bobby and the Chimps, a drama that uses a school board election to explore evolution and God, at 8 p.m. today (March 6) in Theatre II at the University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave. The show is also at 8 p.m. Saturday (March 7) and 3 p.m. Sunday (March 8). $8-15. Call (813) 974-2323.

Renaissance recital

USF faculty Brad Diamond, tenor, and John Robison, lute, viol, Baroque oboe, will perform with guest artist Carol Alexander, harpsichord, from 4 to 6 p.m. today (March 1) at the School of Music, 4202 E Fowler Ave.

Enjoy an afternoon of early music for voice and various instruments, including Renaissance lute songs, early seventeenth-century Italian music, and cantatas for tenor,oboe and continuo by Georg Philipp Telemann.

Lunch and learn about Spain

George Zucker, a Spanish professor at the University of Northern Iowa who taught about Spain’s Renaissance and Baroque literature, will talk about "Spain from Columbus to Cervantes" at 12:15 today (Feb. 27) as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute brown bag Lunch and Learn series at USF, 4202 E Fowler Ave.

In 1492 Columbus gave Spain a whole new world. But the country was unable to deal with some of the social, economic and philosophical changes of the Renaissance. Spain became more and more self-centered, seeing enemies of the church and kingdom on all sides. The decline is portrayed in the literature of the 16th century, culminating in the universal literary masterpiece, Don Quixote, with its message of hope.

'Bobby and the Chimps,' a play about love, faith and the politics of evolution, opens at USF

A new play about love, faith and the politics of evolution opens tonight on the Tampa campus of the University of South Florida. Bobby and the Chimps, produced under the auspices of the British International Theatre program, explores the concept of intelligent design — the belief that some systems found in nature could not have formed without the intervention of an unnamed designer — against the backdrop of a 2008 school board election in Bethlehem, Pa. See it in Theater II at 8 tonight through Saturday and March 4-7. Also, 3 p.m. Sunday and March 8. There will be a post-show talkback with the playwright and actors Friday (Feb. 27) and March 6. Tickets are $8-$15; (813) 974-2323.

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Peace Piece builds multimedia message with dance, music, film and writing

Peace Piece: "Take a Walk in my Shoes" is at 7:30 tonight (Feb. 24) in Theater One at USF, 4202 E Fowler Ave. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. The cost is $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Check here for more information.

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Peace Piece builds multimedia message with dance, music, film and writing

From the Times:

By Sheryl Kay

TAMPA -- In a small trailer off East Fowler Avenue, big plans are in the works.

Marissa Alma Nick is collaborating with her housemates, Tera Greene and Ryan Deal, to produce, direct and perform a new dance opera. Their work, Peace Piece: Take a Walk in my Shoes, premiers Tuesday night at the University of South Florida.

The dance is the first installment of Peace Piece, the trio's ongoing multimedia project that centers on the ideal of achieving world peace through artistic expression.

"We've come to a day and age in history where the verbal form of communication is broken. People distrust people's words," said Nick, 24, a USF grad who is the choreographer and principal dancer. "Dance is one important way of communicating the idea of peace by creating a window of reflection for a non-artist brain."

Peace, Nick said, has been in the forefront of her thoughts since childhood, which is when she started to dance. John Lennon is her hero, she said, and she has danced every style — from classical ballet to hip-hop — since age 3.

She often wonders why peace is talked about but rarely achieved.

"Why has there never been peace throughout America's history?" she asked. "Will there always be hate and intolerance?"

Take a Walk in my Shoes addresses those questions and others. The cast of 40 uses ballet, modern dance, jazz and break dancing to tell the satiric comedy of a mailman who goes insane.

The production was six months in the making, including writing, choreography and musical composition, and the production process was captured on film. Those images will be combined with a filming of the live stage show and released as a documentary-style film.

The trio, along with stage producer Carla Marie Rivera, is also working on subsequent modules of the project to be released in the coming year.

These include a collaborative effort with poet and editor Michael Rothenberg to produce a book of stories and poetry and a traveling art/photography show to travel the country.

Collaboration and the multimedia nature of Peace Piece are key to the project, said Greene, 25, who edited and composed the dance. Teamwork and alliances show the importance of inclusion rather than exclusion, she said, and that's where peace begins.

"I'm a mixologist at heart," said Greene, who is known in her hometown of Los Angeles as DJ Nova Jade. "There are differences among people, but there's this fabric of sameness and Peace Piece is the embodiment of that. Through our differences, we still have a lot in common."

If You Go
Peace Piece: "Take a Walk in my Shoes" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 24) in Theater One at USF, 4202 E Fowler Ave. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Cost is $12 in advance and $15 at the door. For more information go online to www.myspace.com/peacepiecefilm.