Monthly Archives: September 2010

6 Sep, 2010

The Sound of Shattering Glass

2010-09-06T23:49:18-07:00By |Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|

It started off as a ringtone that made me laugh. It became an ironic reflection of how I broke in Ghana. An upstairs neighbor of Counterpulse threw empty 40 ounce bottles from the window down onto the sidewalk of 9th and Mission the day we practiced at the bus stop. We were playing our shakers too loud. We had to run. There was glass everywhere. That part wasn't on youtube or in the pictures. Afterwards, we went inside to perform our Work-In-Progress showing to the sound of shattering glass. We ran again.

8 Sep, 2010

Nine years, Nine emotions

2010-09-08T13:36:51-07:00By |Categories: CounterPULSE|

Nine years ago, events occurred that changed the way many people looked at the rest of the world.  On September 11th, 2001, the whole world watched in horror at the catastrophic events that changed the meaning of this day for many people, especially Americans.  As time moved on emotions and memories of this day still exist, and people have learned to cope with life and find happiness again.   Psychologists found many patterns to the human emotional behavior.  Tragedy resulted in

8 Sep, 2010

Performing Nautanki in Paris, reconnecting to roots in India, and enhancing Mission Suhani

2010-09-08T23:40:16-07:00By |Categories: CounterPULSE, Devendra Sharma, Performing Diaspora|Tags: , , , , |

I spent the last three months in Europe and India, traveling and performing Nautanki to diverse audiences. I also worked with my father on Nautanki Mission Suhani to expand the script and add new scenes for our performance at CounterPULSE this October. I first traveled to Paris, where I stayed at the Théâtre du Soleil (http://www.theatre-du-soleil.fr), a theater founded by the famous French director Ariane Mnouchkine. I watched their latest production, Les Naufragés du Fol Espoirs, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

14 Sep, 2010

Selling It

2010-09-14T10:38:57-07:00By |Categories: CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora, Sri Susilowati|Tags: , , , , , |

Sometimes I'm asked what village I grew up in. The answer is a little village of (what is now) 7.4 million people. The idea that I grew up in a ghetto area in one of world's largest cities seems to shock many people. How can the art that I learned and practice be from that environment and not from one of rice fields, palm trees, and poor but happy villagers? The deep origins of my technique are not from the

15 Sep, 2010

Faux Real with Fauxnique opens in one week!

2010-09-15T14:43:42-07:00By |Categories: Uncategorized|

Monique Jenkinson & the Climate Theater Present Faux Real with Fauxnique Fresh from a smashing stint in London, Faux Real returns to the Climate Theater (in their temporary home at TJT - please note the venue change)! For those of you who missed it before, here's your chance: twelve shows! For those of you who came and saw it last year, huge thanks for your wonderful support (and come back, because I've surprises planned for you). And huge thanks to

21 Sep, 2010

Rebellious Women

2010-09-21T16:07:54-07:00By |Categories: Free Events (donations welcomed), Talks|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Last week, Shaping San Francisco's kickoff to the Fall/Winter/Spring 2010-2011 Public TALKS! Series was a perfect way to begin our next round of free discussions.  We were proud to co-sponsor the evening with PM Press, whose Ramsey Kanaan pulled together a spectacular collection of speakers to speak to the topic "Imprisoned but Unbowed: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women." Sin Soracco, author of Low Bite, the story of the time she spent in prison, started the evening and in telling her

21 Sep, 2010

The PULSE goes Pink!

2010-09-21T17:15:14-07:00By |Categories: CounterPULSE|Tags: |

So we finally kicked off our facade overhaul starting with a nice pink wash! Don't worry this is just the primer coat, check back in a few days to see the sleek new paint job on CounterPULSE and look for more upgrades in the next week when we add a sign and external lighting! Check out more of these photos by our great tech intern Sarah Fiske!

23 Sep, 2010

The Great Shrinking

2010-09-23T13:05:45-07:00By |Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|

First there was a dungeon. Then there was a boat. We died. We survived. We got sick and never quite got better. All of us stayed behind thinking the others had been rescued. We found a way in through the skin and the hair, but haven't found another way to talk about it since. Gunshots come closest.Our tongues were cut off and replaced with shiny new ones. They had motors that made them move all by themselves. They made funny

23 Sep, 2010

“Ampey!” Kickstarter http://bit.ly/b6FanA

2010-09-23T13:26:26-07:00By |Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|

I am very pleased to announce that we launched the "Ampey!" Kickstarter page on Monday September 13, 2010! We've raised $1,140 so far. We now have 79 days left until the end of our campaign. Our goal is $6,500. $73 a day should keep us on track. We're raising funds to assist with the artist fees and production costs of expanding my work. To ensure that we surpass our goal, our Kickstarter page will be up until Sunday December 12,

23 Sep, 2010

“Ampey!” Animations #1

2010-09-23T13:53:31-07:00By |Categories: Adia Tamar Whitaker, CounterPULSE, Performing Diaspora|

On Saturday September 18, 2010 the cast of "Ampey!" hit the streets of San Francisco with some short and powerful vocal performances. We performed in front of Rasputin's on Powell Street, Powell and Market, Civic Center  and 16th Street BART Stations from 3p to 6p. It was very exciting to see weekend shoppers stop and take  notice of our grassroots advertising strategy. We didn't introduce ourselves. We just entered whatever public space we decided to perform in, began to sing and pass out fliers. A special shout out to

24 Sep, 2010

Director, Vidhu Singh and Jennifer Marshall, a freelance writer for India Currents magazine, talk about “Dancing on Glass” (@ CounterPULSE on Oct 8-10)

2010-09-24T23:03:20-07:00By |Categories: CounterPULSE|

1. How did you discover and learn about the lifestyle stresses of Call Centre employees in preparing to direct the play? I had heard about the lifestyle stresses of Call Center employees over the last few years— fatigue, insomnia, depression, nightmares, illness, dealing with racist customers, burn-out, inter-generational conflict and gender issues. I was listening to a paper on plays about Call Centers, presented by a colleague of mine (Jisha Menon) at the Asian American Studies Conference in Texas

28 Sep, 2010

Traditions Engaged

2010-09-28T10:22:44-07:00By |Categories: CounterPULSE|Tags: , , , , |

When you're as far away from India as we are - here in the Bay Area - it's easy to mistakenly think of that distant land as one unified place where you find one unified culture. Of course, the truth is much more complicated. India occupies over a million square miles of the globe and is home to over a billion of the earth's inhabitants. Over such a vast territory with such a large population, unity becomes a very abstract

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