The one about the 2011 Umbrella Project

The one where Gabe and Zach explain the 2011 Indy Convergence Umbrella Project

The one where Gabe and Zach Explain the Puppet Project at the 2011 Indy Convergence

The one where Gabe, Zach and Danielle Summarize Lobstra at Indy Convergence 2011

The convergence only happens for two weeks of the year, but it takes hours of carefully planning to take advantage of every hour of our time in Indianapolis. Take a look at that special time when we get everything started.

2011 Converger Christina Aimerito Feinberg led a number of workshops on puppet making during that year’s convergence, resulting in puppets finding their way into both side-projects and the umbrella project “Mythystory”.

GALILEO in AMERICA   World Premiere

An original theatrical work created by Antoinette LaFarge and Robert Allen

Antoinette LaFarge, co-creator, writer, visual designer
Robert Allen, co-creator, director
Philip White, composer

Feb. 23, 24, 25  Evenings @ 8:00 p.m.
March 1, 2, 3     Evenings @ 8:00 p.m.
Feb. 25 and March 3  Matinees @ 2:00 p.m.

xMPL (Experimental Media Performance Lab) in the Contemporary Arts Center

This original multi-media work is about one of the stranger periods in American history.  It was a time when the FBI kept meticulous files on German war refugees in Los Angeles (people like actor Peter Lorre and writer Thomas Mann).  A time when beloved American artists like singer Pete Seeger and playwright Jerome Robbins were called on to testify about their political beliefs in front of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. A time when civil liberties were threatened by blacklists; when clowns and inquisitors shared the spotlight and when people of integrity were forced to grapple with the true cost of living up to their principles.  Not unlike today, you might say…

Part cabaret and part courtroom drama, Galileo in America focuses on the period in the 1940s when German playwright Bertolt Brecht fled to Santa Monica to escape the Nazis.  During his exile years, Brecht and noted film actor Charles Laughton worked on a new production of his play about Galileo’s struggle with the Catholic Church.

Brecht and his friends were suspected of being communists and under constant surveillance by the FBI.  At the end of this period, Brecht has his own reckoning with authority when he was called to testigy before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.  Galileo in America is structured as a surreal epic in which all these stories are twined into a single braid, bringing Galileo and his daughter, Virginia, face-to-face with the FBI agents who shadowed Brecht.

Galileo in America has been supported by the Goethe Institute in Los Angeles, Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades, University of California, Irvine, and contributions from individual donors.

Prior to each show, tickets can be purchased online at www.arts.uci.edu/tickets
General Admission $15 Seniors $14 UCI Students and Children $11

If you’re a Bertol Brecht fan, don’t miss the Drama Department’s presentation of Mother Courage – and take advantage of special discounts if you buy a ticket to both productions — Tickets just $10 each when purchased together. To purchase the package, click here www.arts.uci.edu/tickets

Call the Arts Box Office for more information, (949) 824-2787