Bilodeau

Out Now CSPA Q8: International Issue – The Sea is Rising

July 11, 2012Announcements, QuarterlyAbundance, Amanda Gartman, Anniversary, Art, Art And Science, Audience, Bilodeau, Chantal Bilodeau, Christopher Robbins, CSPA, Digital Editions, Emotions, Eve, Eve Mosher, Ghana Think Tank, Green, Highwaterline Learning Project, Ian Garrett, Interdependence, International, Intersection Science, Liz Ward, Miranda Wright, Mosher, National Borders, Oceans, Performance Pieces, Pilot Issue, Plunge, Public Art, Science And Culture, Sea Rise, sustainability, Sustainability In Theater, theater, Water Ice

CSPA Quarterly #8 is now available for purchase through MagCloud. Members, your print and digital editions will find their ways to you shortly!.

Our third international issue focuses on projects that call attention to topics that extend well beyond national borders. With a focus on interdependence, and an abundance of contributions about water, ice, and sea rise, this issue addresses the space between national borders- our oceans. Featuring work from Moe Beitiks, Chantal Bilodeau, Eve Mosher, Michael Pinksy, Christopher Robbins, and Liz Ward.

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UPCOMING ISSUES

Q9 Intersection: Science and Culture

Weâ€™ve been noticing a flurry of work that exists at the intersection between art and science. This includesÂ installation and performance pieces that challenge scientific claims, and work that utilizes science to prove aÂ point, or to reach a new audience. Itâ€™s about fact-imbedded art, or emotions and reasoning co-existing.

CSPA Quarterly 1.0

Our tenth issue anniversary! For this issue, we will breathe new life into our pilot issue, and will check in withÂ those participating artists.

Earth Matters On Stage 2012 at Carnegie Mellon University

June 19, 2012Conferences, Earth Matters on StageBilodeau, Carbon Footprint, Carnegie Mellon, Carnegie Mellon University, Competition Winners, Cross Section, CSPA Convergence, Earth Matters, earth matters on stage, eco art, eco theater, ecology and performance, Green Alliance, Holly Hughes, Ian Garrett, Inuit Culture, james mckernon, Keynote Speaker, Nbsp, Nea, Nerds, Pittsburg Pa, Playwright, Polar Bears, Rigney, Session Titles, Slow Deterioration, Sustainable Design, Theatrical Production, Theresa May, wendy arons

Â There have been a bevvy of eco-theater conferences in recent years, but it’s great to bring it all together with Earth Matters on Stage, which took place this past May 31st-June 2 at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburg, PA. It included a collection of performances, presentations and panels covering everything from carbon footprint to eco-dramaturgy. Session titles included: “Sustainable Design,” “Ecocriticism & Contemporary American Theater,” and â€œThe Carbon Footprint of Theatrical Production,â€ among many others. That last one was by CSPA’s Ian Garrett, and involved discussions of all the usual players: Arcola Theatre, Julie’s Bicycle, the Broadway Green Alliance . . . Discussions of sustainable design carried throughout the festival and bled into discussion of performance throughout the weekend. Again and again: how do we make theatrical production more sustainable? How do we incorporate or cultural dialogue with the planet into the work? How do we make work that goes beyond “being less bad” into something that actually has a positive impact on the environment?

Below are a selection of photos from the event. Keynote speaker and performer was Holly Hughes, one of the NEA four, whose most recent work (“The Dog and Pony Show: Bring your own Pony,”) examines her relationship with her pets. Ecodrama Playwright competition winners this year included Chantal Bilodeau, whose work “Sila,” explores a cultural cross-section of inuit culture, scientific researchers, and polar bears, and Mark Rigney, whose play, “Bears,” depicts a slow deterioration of civilization through the intimate stories of a group of zoo-bound bears.Â The work of Earth Matters founder Theresa May was ever-present in the discussion on eco-dramaturgy, and the weekend ended with a discussion of conferences past and future. The dialogue continues, as we discuss and discover more ways that our set of skills can serve the environment.

the arctic is melting and everyone wants a piece of it Â« Mo`olelo Blog

May 17, 2011newsArtistic Director, Artistic Team, Avenue Theatre, Bilodeau, Bottle Of Wine, Breath Of Life, Canadian Arctic, Climate Change, Family Obligations, Fancy Food, First Draft, Inuit Communities, Inuit Word, James Irvine Foundation, Maritime Commerce, Munchie, Playwrights, San Diego Ca, Story Details, Workshop Montreal

Two years ago, thanks to a grant from The James Irvine Foundation, Mo`olelo commissioned playwright Chantal Bilodeau to write a play that explores the intersection of race, class and climate change. Originally from Montreal, Ms. Bilodeau was already researching the impact of climate change on the Inuit communities of the Canadian Arctic. This commission supported that work. As she traveled to the arctic and did further research, she encountered the complexities and contradictions of climate change: ice versus maritime commerce, human rights and activism colliding with family obligations, sovereignty colliding with sustainability. The result was a new play,Â Sila. The title, Sila, is an Inuit word for the breath of life, the primary component of everything that exists.

Mo`olelo workshopped the first draft of this script last year; Ms. Bilodeau and Mo`oleloâ€™s Artistic Director Seema Sueko journeyed to Montreal in January of this year to workshop the script at Playwrights Workshop Montreal with Inuit and Quebecois actors; and we will now host the third and final workshop reading of this script on May 24. We invite you to join us. For those who saw the reading in 2010, the script has gone through significant adjustments, with some characters â€œbeing fired,â€ and a tightening of the story.

Details

What:Â a reading ofÂ Sila by Chantal Bilodeau

When: Â Tuesday, May 24, 2011 with 5:15 PM Potluck reception & mingle with the artistic team and 6:00 PM Reading

Where:Â The 10^th Avenue Theatre, 930 10^th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101

Reservations:Â Space is limited. Email:Â tickets@moolelo.net or callÂ 619-342-7395

Admission:Â Bring something to drink (bottle of wine, soda, whatever you fancy), food to share (cheese & crackers, hors dâ€™oeuvre, or some other munchie), or make a $10 donation at the door.

www.moolelo.net

About the play:

The Arctic is melting and everyone wants a piece of it.

In the race to shape the future of the region, four characters â€“ an ice scientist, an Inuit activist, an officer for the Marine Communications and Traffic Services and a polar bear â€“ see their values challenged as their lives become intricately intertwined.

Mo`olelo Receives $30,000 Grant from The James Irvine Foundation

June 21, 2009Announcements, newsAddresses, Arts Organizations, Bilodeau, blog, Chantal Bilodeau, Climate Change, Commercial Opportunity, Creative Connections, Diverse Communities, Environment, Environmental Organizations, Equity Theater, Foundation Funds, Grant Foundation, Intersection, Inuit Peoples, James Irvine Foundation, Long Term Health, Monies, Native American Populations, Northwest Passage, Olelo, Original Script, Play Development, Public Reading, Recieves, San Diego Ca, Theater Audiences

Funds will commission playwright Chantal Bilodeau to write a play on race, poverty and environment

Thursday, June 18, 2009 – San Diego, CA – Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego’s community-focused, socially-conscious, Equity theater company, today announced The James Irvine Foundation has awarded the Company a $30,000 grant over two years to commission a new play by Chantal Bilodeau. This grant is made as part of the Irvine Foundation’s Creative Connections Fund, which was designed to reach small and midsize arts organizations pursuing a diversity of projects and ideas.

The funds will support the commissioning, work-shopping and development of an original script by Ms. Bilodeau that focuses on the contemporary debate over the Northwest Passage and the intersection of climate change, commercial opportunity and the survival of Inuit peoples native to the region. Through the play development process, Mo`olelo will engage San Diegoâ€™s Native American populations and environmental organizations to contribute to the evolution of the script through public readings and discussions.

Mo`olelo launched a greening initiative in 2007 to identify how theater can be created without damaging the long-term health of our communities and the environment. In addition, central to Mo`olelo’s mission is to select plays that focus on diverse communities and allow the Company to engage local, nontraditional theater audiences.

“Commissioning this play will provide an opportunity for Mo`olelo to draw the connection between issues of race, class and the environment,” said Seema Sueko, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Mo`olelo. “This will allow us to support on stage, through content, the greening work we are doing backstage.”

The commission will launch in July 2009, with a first workshop and public reading of the script tentatively scheduled for June 2010. Revisions and adjustments will be made and a second workshop and public reading is scheduled for May 2011. The script is expected to be completed by June 2011.

Chantal Bilodeau is a playwright and translator originally from Montreal, Canada. Her plays include Pleasure & Pain (Magic Theatre; Foro La Gruta and Teatro La Capilla, Mexico City), The Motherline (Ohio University; University of Miami), Tagged (Ohio University; Alleyway Theatre), as well as several shorts that have been presented by Brass Tacks Theatre, City Theatre Company, The Met Theater, Philadelphia Dramatists, Raw Impressions, and Womenâ€™s Project. She has been a fellow in the Womenâ€™s Project Playwrightsâ€™ Lab, the Lark Playwrights Workshop and at the Dramatists Guild and has received grants from NYSCA, the Canada Council for the Arts, Stichting LIRA Fonds (The Netherlands), the Quebec Government House, Ã‰tant DonnÃ©s: The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts and Association Beaumarchais (France). Her translations include plays by Quebec playwrights Larry Tremblay and Catherine LÃ©ger, French-African playwright Koffi KwahulÃ© and Jean Cocteau. Current projects include the book for the musical The Quantum Fairies in collaboration with composer Lisa DeSpain and lyricist Mindi Dickstein and the translation of four more plays by Koffi KwahulÃ©.

The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. The Foundationâ€™s grantmaking focuses on three program areas: Arts, California Democracy and Youth. Since 1937 the Foundation has provided over $1 billion in grants to more than 3,000 nonprofit organizations throughout California. With $1.4 billion in assets, the Foundation made grants of $78 million in 2008 for the people of California.

About Mo`olelo – Mo`olelo means story in Hawaiian. Selected as the inaugural Resident Theatre Company at La Jolla Playhouse, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company is a socially-conscious theatre organization dedicated to broadening the scope of San Diego’s cultural environment by telling powerful stories that are as diverse as the islands of Hawaii, by paying Equity wages to local actors and developing environmentally-friendly theatre practices. A recipient of the PattÃ©, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, McDonald Playwriting and the Anti-Discrimination Awards, its mission is to create new works based on research within various communities, produce lesser-known works by master and contemporary playwrights, and educate youth. To learn more, visit www.moolelo.net or call 619-342-7395.

grant from The James Irvine Foundation Â« Mo`olelo Blog.