Snowbound

We are happy to help spread the word about the new drama written by our own Margaret Edwartowski being performed in Planet Ant’s upcoming Late Night Series.  The piece, entitled “Snowbound”, runs January 8 – January 23, Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30 pm. Directed by Michael Carnow, the play tells the story of hard living in 1870 Colorado. Sara Adler has been left to care for her alcoholic brother, his motherless child and her dementia ridden Grandmother.  When the man she loves offers to take her away from it all, family ties are questioned and the lines of right and wrong become blurred. The play features Jon Ager, Stephen Blackwell, Connie Cowper, and Jenny Tocco.

Margaret, a Second City alum, teaches improvisation acting and film production in our school outreach programs and has hosted a weekly improv comedy show at the Marlene Boll Theatre.  Margaret received her BFA in Acting from Wayne State University.  She is a founding member of the Improv Colony at Planet Ant Theatre and Comedy Works at the Century Theatre.  She has also produced a two-women show entitled Bottle of Red: Uncorked.

All Tickets General admission $10 | No discounts.

For reservations call 313.365.4948 or email reservations@planetant.com.

Nate Mullen

Y Arts has been very fortunate to have Nate Mullen, a Michigan AmeriCorps Partnerships member, working with our staff for the past couple of months. Nate is overseeing and teaching in our after school arts programming and curating exhibits in the Lobby gallery.  He does such a great job, in fact, that he was nominated as this month’s Michigan AmeriCorps Member of the Month.  Great job, Nate!  Here is the statement released by the State of Michigan announcing his recognition:

“A native of Detroit, Nathaniel Mullen attended Detroit Public Schools and then earned a BFA in Art & Design at the University of Michigan.  Nathaniel is now using his artistic talent to positively impact his community through the Michigan AmeriCorps Partnership (MAP) program.  He is in his second year of full-time service and is placed at the Downtown Detroit Boll Family YMCA.

At the YMCA, Nathaniel is coordinating the Y Arts exhibitions in the Lobby Gallery, teaching digital photography classes for teenagers, and participating in community partnerships.  In 2008, he initiated both the project and member applications to secure a MAP AmeriCorps position in the Visual Arts Department of the Neutral Zone (a.k.a, the Ann Arbor Teen Center).  He spent the year redeveloping the digital arts program, expanding the exhibitions program, and broadening community outreach.  Two of his largest projects included a week-long service-learning project in Detroit and an exhibition titled “Frame of Mind,” in collaboration with the Depression Center at the University of Michigan to bring light to issues surrounding youth mental health.

For his second year serving in AmeriCorps, Nathaniel looks forward to the challenges of his new position.  He contends, “After a five year absence, I’m hoping to be able to contribute to Y Arts and the city.”

According to MAP program director, Addell Austin Anderson, “Nathan has the drive, talent and enthusiasm to inspire youth to see beyond their, sometimes, isolated world to make a difference in their own lives and community.”

For more information on the Michigan AmeriCorps Partnership program, please contact Program Director, Addell Austin Anderson at (313) 593-0937 or Addell@umich.edu .  For more information on AmeriCorps, visit www.americorps.gov .”

Steve Coy with Media Arts Students

STEVE COY, film maker and installation artist, (see artists’ bios) is working with the kids at Hanley International school in Hamtramck. Here’s one of his recent daily reports:

PLAN FOR THE DAY:

Warm-up activity, reintroduction/discuss understanding of terms: media, multi-media, collaboration, installation.  We ran out of time while working on the identity/logo imagery for the artist collective last week. More time was allowed for this (at the students request).  We set up a gmail account and opened a blog.  All processes up until this point have been photo-documented and will be published to the blog.  We also started a project to help better understand the term installation.  We used Learntoloveyourselfmore.com, a multi-media web art project, to create “words of inspiration” installations in the school.  These will be installed, photographed and posted to our blog as well as Learntoloveyourselfmore.com during our next class.

RESPONSE FROM STUDENTS:

Again, the students really enjoyed the warm-up activity.  We have been getting very nice designs/drawings for our artists collective logo.  I think the students really got a stronger understanding of what installation art is/ how it is unique.  The seem to be gaining a broader understanding of what art is.

I am excited at finding creative ways of delivering the content for this course.