Shakespeare on the Move

The New Mexico Rail Runner and UNM Department of Theatre Education and Outreach are teaming up to provide some great summer entertainment. Every Saturday afternoon in June, July, and August, scenes from Shakespeare's plays will be performed on the train between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. You can find full details here, including schedules and which types of scenes will be performed each month. The performances are free, aside from the train fare of course.

I'm sure the Love Scenes in June and the Comedic Scenes in July will be fantastic. However, I'm most looking forward to the Scenes of Treachery & Deceit in August. Hmmmm...swashbuckling swordplay on the train?! It sounds like a fantastic reason to take the Rail Runner, or as I call it, The Rail Funner, this summer.

The Show Must Go On

Anyone who was in the downtown area of Santa Fe on Sunday knows about the power outage we had. There are lots of inconvenient places you can find yourself when the power goes down — like on a library computer! But what happens when the power goes out in the middle of a theater performance? Well, if that performance is Dead Man's Cell Phone at the Santa Fe Playhouse, the audience will be patient, but when staff offers are made for postponement or restitution, the audience will say "But can't the actors just finish now?" To which the amazingly flexible actors will enthusiastically agree, and finish out their performance in the semi-gloom by the light of the opened side door, earning themselves a standing ovation and awarding the audience with one of the coolest theater experiences ever.

And the power outage just made the final line of the play shine like a diamond, but if you want to know what that line was and why it was so perfect, you'll have to see or read the play!

by AA @Main

Be the Creative

I've been aware that Santa Fe is one of UNESCO's Creative Cities, but a recent trip to Santa Fe Literary News highlighted the different activities and organizations that are available in this program. The Santa Fe Creative Tourism site lists dozens of workshops, classes, and meetings for a large range of experiences, such as photography, pottery, agritourism, and of course, literary arts.

Not all the programs are free or low-cost, so keep that in mind as you browse the offerings. Also, the website isn't always up-to-date, so you might want to check with the hosting organization to confirm. However, there is a blog that has new postings regularly. If you're a hosting organization, be sure to get listed.

For locals and tourists alike, this is a fantastic resource for ongoing programs to explore a new aspect of your creative side. In fact, I'm browsing the Theater/Dance/Music page right now, and they list some great dance classes. Let's just hope I don't scare our tourists away when I practice my mambo at the reference desk.

Encore, CSF

I think a lot of people have been holding their collective breath to see how things would turn out with the Laureate takeover of the College of Santa Fe. I know I have been. And so I jumped at the chance to get tickets to the first official play in the Greer Garson Theatre (not the little Weckesser theatre, but the big red velvety one) since the takeover. Back when I was a student at CSF, I had to go to one of the plays for my Western Culture class. I didn’t want to go, my date backed out, and my car broke down at the gas station on the way. But once I got there, I fell in love with the whole experience – the acting, a friend in the cast, the red velvet seats, the cozy cavelike feeling of the theatre, a gripping play keeping me on the edge of my seat. For the subsequent seventeen years, I have caught as many of the plays as I’ve been able, even when I lived outside of New Mexico for a few years, on frequent trips back home. I’ve rarely been disappointed in the talent, the caliber, the entire experience. And I wept copiously after going to see Sweet Charity, the final play last year, when we thought the College was finished for good.

I was nervous that things would have changed, and that it wouldn’t be the same fantastic experience I had taken for granted. When I arrived, the audience was small, and the theatre had been curtained in half to make it smaller. But I settled into my seat with hope in my heart, and I was not disappointed. I’m pleased to report that the play I saw on Sunday, Boys’ Life, carried me away. It was well-acted and thought-provoking, the characters were engaging and infuriating, the set design was clever, and I really enjoyed the whole thing immensely.

Whatever the rest of the story is with the “new” College of Santa Fe, I’m thrilled that the theatre department is still persevering, and I’m already making plans to catch the student-directed production in February. I’ll be the one in the front, bouncing up and down on my red velvet seat.

by AA @Main

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Saturday, January 9th
2:00 - 2:45 pm
Southside Branch Library
6599 Jaguar Drive

A BRAVO Kids Concert of Amahl and the Night Visitors, a children’s Christmas/Epiphany opera, will be presented at the Southside Branch Library. The opera will be costumed and staged, featuring 6 youth singers.

The Santa Fe Public Library is hosting this free event in conjunction with the Santa Fe Concert Association.

Call 955-2828 for more information.