updates connected to the book Idylls for a Bare Stage
& to performances of the Idylls
& other initiatives related to the Art of the Poetic Monologue
2011-2016

Monday, October 3, 2011

Triple Launch Party – November 20th, 2011 7pm at The Athenaeum


Welcome.  I’ve set up this site in order to announce, give details to, and provide updates on performances and events associated with my book/theatrical piece Idylls for a Bare Stage.

Save the Date

The D.C. release event takes place on November 20th, and will feature performances of several Idylls and of other relevant works by other authors, plus music, and general celebratory good times.

Enter the Mindscape of 
a Sorceress and a Saint, a Horse and a Captive Woman
A Mother feeling her estranged daughter's labor pains 
Antigone burying her brother's body
Palamedes (inventor of numbers, alphabets and lighthouses)
and Leda (after the swan)
and more 

Featured Actors’ Center performers planned for this evening:  Margaret Anthony, Genna Davidson, Carol McCaffrey, Kimberly Mikec, Rachel Morrissey, Paul Morton, Harlie Sponaugle, and Sue Struve.

Musical Guest is Old Songs, with Mark Jickling and Chris Mason - planned for this evening, songs taking us from the art of poetic monologue to the art of poetic insult, their versions of the raunchy and caustic 6th century B.C.E. poet, Hipponax

This is a triple launch:  1), for the book publication of Idylls for a Bare Stage;  2), for the production and presentation of the Idylls, featuring actors from The Actors’ Center of Washington D.C., to be performed in various contexts and venues throughout the next year or so, at least;  and 3), for the producing entity, Sui Generis Literary Performing Arts Lab.

The Sui Generis Literary Performing Arts Lab (or, SiGiLPAL) is my in-progress framework for creating approaches to acting the Idylls and developing the Art of the Poetic Monologue, as well as a progression from experiences I had as director of the Yockadot Poetics Theatre Project 2005-2010.  As showcase and incubator, Yockadot concentrated on “Poetics Theatre”;  SiGiLPAL continues that exploration, adding to it an interest in Poets’ Theatre from whatever traditional or avant-garde sources, plus openness to any poetic or text-centric/language rich performance and theatre pieces by artists working along affinitive lines. 

None of this could be possible without The Actors’ Center of Washington D.C. and, for our first event (and perhaps more to come), the Athenaeum and its organization, the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association.

The show will begin soon after the 7pm arrival time (please see side panel for event details and map - and yes it is 7pm, that "8pm local" note is probably something that will correct itself at Daylight Savings Time);  please arrive on time so that you won't miss any of the performances.


Hope to see you there.

M. Magnus





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