Sights & Sounds is your weekly guide to the Bay Area arts scene. Theater artist Sarita Ocón told KALW’s Jen Chien about three fantastic arts events happening around the Bay this week.
- Sucia — Little Theater from 3/1-3/11
- Berta: No Se Murió, Se Multiplicó— 518 Valencia on 3/2
- Future Spaces — Oakland School For The Arts on 3/3-3/4
Sucia is a story is for girls who aren't afraid to get their hands "dirty." A motherless girl known only as Sucia becomes the backbone of a new family. In spite of dire financial straits and the demands of her domestic life, Sucia dares to chase her Ivy League dreams.
Sucia is part of the Fringe, a showcase for student playwrights. Throughout its existence, the Fringe at San Francisco State University has been an opportunity for the diverse and multicultural voices of students. It has produced many plays by Asian American, Latino, African American, and gay and lesbian writers, delving deeply and entertainingly into the many aspects of culture represented in the SFSU theater and creative writing programs. Fringe has produced work by nationally and regionally prominent playwrights, including Marcus Gardley, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Claire Rice, Christopher Chen and Evelyn Pine.
"I was so excited just to see these young Latinx theater artists having a different interpretation of, I believe it's kind of an adaptation of a Cinderella story. I find that kind of work very, very exciting, and I'm all for supporting our next generation."
Join Task Force on the Americas for Berta: No Se Murió, Se Multiplicó, a short film about Honduran activist Berta Cáceres who was murdered two years ago while protesting a hydropower plant. The film, directed by Sam Vinal, will be followed by a discussion of American involvement and the current situation in Honduras, with Silvio Carrillo, nephew of Berta Cáceres; Roxanna Altholz, an international human-rights lawyer, scholar, and a member of the investigative team that examined the Berta Cáceres case for her family; and members of Alianza Hondureña NorCal.
"I was deeply saddened upon hearing of her assassination ... I think as artists, as change-makers, we have a responsibility of continuing that civic engagement and that dialogue, and to keep inspiring and at least sparking some kind of further action to be taken. So it's great that there's a film."
https://vimeo.com/220567940">BERTA NO SE MURIÓ, SE MULTIPLICÓ — Avance/Tráiler — Documental from https://vimeo.com/user10177836" target="_blank">Sam Vinal — Mutual Aid Media on Vimeo.
Future Spaces will feature immersive visions from the future made by Oakland School of the Arts students — and is the school's first arts festival.
OSA is a public-arts charter school that opened in 2002. Students from all 11 of the school's creative disciplines will showcase work in nine venues in the heart of downtown Oakland.
Imagine a spoken-word poem about what follows gentrification, a dance exploring the widening distance in a relationship, a song from a colony on Mars, and a painting of Oakland after it's adapted to rising sea levels.
Performancesrun from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. with three shows per day in each venue.
"I've met actually some of the young artists that are at OSA, and I'm always just fascinated by what they're working on ... I love leaving myself open and available and expansive to support the next generation. So, I'm really excited to see what their festival is going to drum up!"
Sarita Ocón is the founder of Las Hociconas Lab Performance Residency — a new theater-arts initiative designed to nurture a new generation of cis-gender women, queer, trans, and gender-expansive artists of color in the Bay Area. The artists-in-residence will be showcasing and celebrating their work on 3/8-3/9 at Studio Grand in Oakland.