News Roundup, June 3, 2022
San Antonio thespians have been talking about creating a festival in honor of the late Sterling Houston, for at least three or four years but this spring it will become a reality. Houston was a playwright, director, producer and all-round theater artist, who died in 2006. During his long career, he wrote more than 30 plays and four short novels. For 18 years he was a member of the Jump-Start Performance Company where he served in a number of roles, including writer-in-residence, artistic director and administrative director.
The inaugural Sterling Houston Festival involves a number of local arts organizations that will be presenting events in several locations around town.
The fest opens Saturday with one of the playwright’s one-act plays, “Black Lily, White Lily, which deals with the relationship between a white woman and a black woman who works for her. A panel discussion will follow (June 4 at 7 p.m. Little Carver, 226 N. Hackberry, behind the main Carver Community Cultural Center’s building; 210-207-2234, registration required: www.eventbrite.com)
Gemini Ink’s contribution is a dramatic reading of “Black and Blue: 400 Years of Struggle and Transcendence,” one of Houston’s works that chronicles the African-American journey. The performance “weaves together historial figures and moments, words of Martin Luther King, and primary sources gathered by Houston” with singing and music. The cast includes SkudR Jones, Marcie Edwards Willis, Chis Knox and the terrific vocalist Danielle King, who is also directing. A Q&A will follow the performance. (June 9 at 7 p.m.; Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, 1301 Guadalupe St., 78207; 210-271-3151; free and open to the public; for info go to www.geminiink.org)
On June 11, the Classic Theater of San Antonio will present “TheaterNOW,” five short plays created in less than 24 hours. Yes, you read that correctly. All the express plays are supposed to be inspired by randomly selected quotes from Houston’s body of work. Writers, actors, directors and technicians have to create mini-plays in 24 hours. It could be fun! (June 11 at 7 p.m.; Northeast Lakeview College Performing Arts Center, 1201 Kitty Hawk Rd., Universal City, 78148; for more info go to https://ci.ovationtix.com/36094/production/1126715)
The Magik Theater will host a week-long playwriting camp named “Myth, Magic and Farce: The Vision of Sterling Houston.” (June 13-17, tuition $300; to register visit www.magiktheatre.org)
More festival events will be highlighted next week.
So, what else is going on? Quite a bit, actually!
Once a year, Musical Bridges Around the World produces a special concert, cleverly named D’s on Keys, that features accomplished non-professional musicians, a lot of them doctors of medicine or sciences, and other professionals. The proceeds support the organization’s educational program. And there are dancers among them as well. This year, optometrist Angel Rivera will join his sister, pediatrician Awilda Ramos, in a salsa dance. A quartet of young women from Kalalaya Indian Performing Arts will perform a classical Indian dance. You can watch the concert for free online. (June 5 at 11 a.m. at www.mbaw.org/dok; you can also participate in the silent auction on the same site)
The Musicians of the San Antonio Symphony – MOSAS for short – will play a couple more concerts before they go on a summer break. These include a regular classical music concert on Friday and a free “family concert” on June 4. For the program of the Friday concert, consult last week’s NEWS ROUNDUP. (June 3 at 7:30 p.m. and June 4 at 10 a.m.; It seems MOSAS will also perform the Ukrainian National Anthem “in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.”; First Baptist Church of San Antonio, 515 McCullough Ave., tickets at www.mosasperformancefund.org)
Throughout June, Opera San Antonio will collaborate with the San Antonio Public Library to present a series of free concerts, designed for families and children, ages 5-12, though older kids are welcome, too. The actual presenters are OSA’s apprentice artists Andres Losada, Tiffany Collazo, Jinni Shen and Alexander Montalvo. These young artists themselves will work with mezzo-soprano, Jill Grove to refine their own performance. That masterclass, on June 18, is open to the public (June 18, 2-4 p.m., Sheddon Recital Hall at UIW. The library events are scheduled for the following libraries: Cody (June 15); Johnston (June 16); Las Palmas (June 28); Mission (June 29) and Brook Hollow (July 2). For further details go to www.operasa.org)
The young dancers of the San Antonio Youth Ballet will reprise their performance of “Scheherazade” at the Brick at Blue Star, June 4. (Shows at 5 and 7:30 p.m.; Blue Star Arts Complex, 1420 S. Alamo, 78210; tickets $18-$300 at www.eventbrite.com; 210-802-7931)
For classic soul music, see the Suffers who are “making music for all people.” The eight-piece band
“instantly hits home with their audiences.” The band will release its 3rd album, “It Starts with Love,” on June 3, the night of their concert at the Carver. (June 3 at 8 p.m.; Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry; tickets $25; 210-207-7211, www.thecarver.org)
Blues/rock guitarist, Jimmy Vaughan, the brother of the late Stevie Ray, will be in San Antonio this weekend. (June 5 at 8 p.m.; Sam’s Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson St.; Tickets are $35-$40; 210-223-2830, www.samsburgerjoint.com)
Trumpeter, Herb Alpert, and his wife, vocalist, Lani Hall, will perform at the Tobin Center on June 7. In addition to their musical skills, they are known for their generosity and philanthropic work that includes the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, and, more recently, the funding for the Harlem School of the Arts at the Herb Alpert Center. (June 7 at 7:30 p.m.; Tobin Center, 100 Auditorium Circle; tickets $39.50 – $75; tickets@tobincenter.org or call 210223-8624)
The British indie rock band, Glass Animals’ American Dreamland Tour stops in San Antonio for a single show this weekend. This is a band of friends who have been making music together for years. We don’t know much about them, but, since they’ll be playing at the Freeman Coliseum, it indicates that a large audience is expected. (June 5 at 7 p.m.; Freeman Coliseum, 3201 E. Houston St.; tickets are $35-$79.50 through Ticketmaster)
Now, let’s take a look at the visual arts news.
Blue Star Contemporary is opening “Travel Distance,” a group exhibition featuring “military-connected and veteran artists.” Conceived and curated by independent curator, Amber Zora, the exhibit reflects the ways that warriors and their families experience military service, including deployment and relocations, that bring “reshuffling of the household order.” Included in the show are pieces by Miridith Campbell, Joe Devera, Claudia Hare, Jenn Hassin, Gina Herrera, Jessica Putman-Philips, Daniel Rios Rodriguez, Renee Romero and Sarah Sudhoff. The exhibit is complemented by “The Veterans Book Project,” which contains personal stories from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Opens June 3, at 6 p.m.; runs through Sept. 25; Blue Star Contemporary 116 Blue Star in the arts complex on S. Alamo; www.bluestarcontemporary.org)
Another summer development that involves San Antonio’s Blue Star Contemporary and many other museums across the country is called – a bit confusingly – the Blue Star Museums Program, an initiative of theNational Endowment for the Arts in collaboration with Blue Star Families and the Department of Defense. Participating museums will be offering free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families – up to five people – throughout the summer.
And there’s big news from both the Witte and the McNay Art Museum. On June 1, The Witte held a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the expansion of the Dawson Family Hall and John R. and Greli N. Less Charitable Trust Science and Nature Court. The McNay’s news is different. The museum’s director and CEO, Richard Aste, is leaving to launch his own coaching practice on the West Coast. However, he will stay here until January 2023 to give the board enough time to find a new top executive for the museum.