Ann Arbor Book Festival - 2009 Theater Event

A SPECIAL COLLABORATION: "The Art of the Play: From Page to Stage"

With generous support from the University of Michigan's The Detroit Center at Orchestra Place and from the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus.

Come see famed tenor George Shirley in a premiere presentation of a one-act play A Chance Meeting, written by Sandra Seaton and directed by David Wolber.

This evening will be a unique exploration of the experience of play production from the initial script to a full performance. The Blackbird Theater presents The African Queen is Sinking and Performance Network Theater presents It Came From Mars in staged reading formats.

These will be followed by the world premiere of playwright Sandra Seaton's A Chance Meeting based on the short story by Cyrus Colter. Panel discussion including OyamO Gordon will also be part of this full evening.

Friday, May 15, 2009 7:00 pm
Master of Ceremonies William Bolcom

Arthur Miller Theater
1226 Murfin Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Click here for a map and directions.

Tickets can be purchased for $15. Click here to order. UPDATE: Tickets purchased on or after May 13 will be held for pickup at the door.

Questions? Call Kathy at 734.369.3366.

Event Participants

Barton Bund

Barton Bund is the original founder of The Blackbird Theatre and its original company, BlackBag Productions. He most recently directed their acclaimed all-African-American production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Other writing and directing credits include his original musicals Patty Hearst and The Glob, as well as his adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray (from Oscar Wilde), as well as The Rainbow & Women in Love (adapted from the novels by D.H. Lawrence), Margaritaville, The Jealous Type, and One Hundred Twinkling Lights (winner, Ann Arbor News Best Original Play, 2005). Bart is a staff writer for Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, Artist-in-residence at The Children's Creative Center of Ann Arbor, as well as a Playmaker Playwright at The Purple Rose Theatre, and a nominee for the Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2001 L. Arnold Weissberger Award in playwriting for his play Norma Peoples.

William Bolcom

Named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America, and honored with multiple Grammy Awards for his ground-breaking setting of Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, William Bolcom is a composer of cabaret songs, concertos, sonatas, operas, symphonies and much more. He was awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Twelve New Etudes for piano. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973-2008. He was named a full professor In 1983, was Chairman of the Composition Department from 1998 to 2003, and in the fall of 1994 the University of Michigan named him the Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Composition.

George Shirley

George Shirley is in demand nationally and internationally as performer, teacher and lecturer. He has won international acclaim for his performances in the world's great opera houses from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to Téatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and many in between. He has recorded for RCA, Columbia, Decca, Angel, Vanguard, CRI, and Philips and received a Grammy Award in 1968 for his role (Ferrando) in the RCA recording of Mozart's Così fan tutte. His career has spanned 49 years and has included countless performances and extensive teaching. We are very honored that he is part of our event.

Sandra Seaton

Sandra Seaton's plays have been performed throughout the country. Ruby Dee starred in a University of Michigan performance directed by Glenda Dickerson of Seaton's The Bridge Party, a winner of the Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwrights. Her collaboration with composer William Bolcom, From the Diary of Sally Hemings, has been presented at such venues as the University Musical Society, Library of Congress, and Kennedy Center. In 2008 her play The Will was produced in Idlewild, Michigan as part of an event she organized that included a symposium on African American culture and classical music, youth workshops, and recitals.

David Wolber

As an actor, David Wolber has performed at Performance Network Theater in A Life In The Theatre (Nominated Best Duo, Detroit Free Press and Between the Lines), Take Me Out (Best Leading Actor, Subscribers Choice Awards) among others, as well as A Streetcar Named Desire for Chimera Theatre Company and The Normal Heart at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. At the Network, he has directed Exits and Entrances by Athol Fugard, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, and many others, as well as for the Chimera Theatre Company. He is Artistic Director at the PNT.

OyamO

OyamO (a.k.a. Charles F. Gordon) is an Associate Professor of Theatre and writer-in-residence at the University of Michigan. His plays have been performed in theatres across the country and at numerous American universities. He is a past member of the NEA Professional Nonprofit Theatre Panel and a current NEA site monitor. He is currently commissioned by the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago to write an adaptation of Maryse Conde's novel I Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, which is slated for production in the 2009-2010 season. HIs career has been extensive and he has received numerous awards. We are very pleased to have him at our event.