BmoreArt’s Picks: October 24-30
This Week: Happenstance Theater Presents: Cabaret Macabre at Baltimore Theatre Project, States of Becoming curatorial talk with Fitsum Shebeshe at UMBC, Warp & Weft reception at Richard B. Talkin Family Art Gallery, Creative Alliance and Chocolate Covered Rocky Horror at Baltimore Center Stage, GRL PWR presents SWEAT! at the Ottobar, book talk with Irena Stein and D. Watkins at Bird in Hand, and Black Cherry Puppet Theater’s “A Very Haunted MasterPique Theater” — PLUS last call for The Gutierrez Memorial Fund Legacy Grant submissions and more featured opportunities!
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.
To submit your calendar event, email us at events@bmoreart.com!
Happenstance Theater Presents: Cabaret Macabre
Thursday, October 26 | Ongoing through November 12
@ Baltimore Theatre Project
Back by popular demand! Happenstance Theater presents CABARET MACABRE. This felicitous autumnal tradition is a witty Theatrical Collage inspired by the illustrations of Edward Gorey, Victorian musings, musical histrionics, ill-fated romance, calamitous excursions, and the dangers of croquet. And what fun would it be without a séance and precocious children…
Perfect for the Hallowe’en season. Show is suitable for most ages. 70 minutes with no intermission.
Featuring:
Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, Alex Vernon and special guest musician Stephanie Baird.
“Cabaret Macabre gleams with the precision
that has become Happenstance’s hallmark…ghoulishly gratifying…” – Washington City Paper
TICKETS: $25 ($20 senior/artist/military, $15 student)
*Pay-What-You-Can – Thursday 10/26
Box Office: 410-752-8558 Online: https://theatreproject.ticketspice.com/cabaret-macabre-23
WHO: Happenstance Theater is a professional company dedicated to devising original, performer-generated, visual, poetic Theater. Happenstance has won 5 Helen Hayes Awards and been called “DC’s leading peddler of whimsy” by the Washington Post.
www.HappenstanceTheater.com
States of Becoming | Curatorial Discussion
Thursday, October 26 :: 5-6:30pm
@ UMBC CADVC
In conjunction with the exhibition States of Becoming, curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culturepresents a conversation with the curator and Jessica Bell Brown, curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The discussion, moderated by Rhea Beckett, founding director at Black Artist Research Space, will focus on curatorial approaches to African diasporic experience and migration.
Fitsum Shebeshe is a curator and painter based in Baltimore and Washington D.C., and curator of States of Becoming, touring with Independent Curators International. Before moving to the United States in 2016, he was Assistant Curator at the National Museum of Ethiopia. In 2012, Shebeshe co-founded the 1957 Initiative to annually celebrate the liberation of African countries from colonialism through the arts.
Jessica Bell Brown is the Curator and Department Head for Contemporary Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Prior to the BMA she was the Consulting Curator at Gracie Mansion Conservancy in New York, and also held roles at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Creative Time. She is curator of the touring exhibition A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration, co-organized with the Mississippi Museum of Art.
Rhea Beckett is an artist, independent curator, and educator whose practice centers on knowledge sharing and collaboration. She co-founded the creative platform Black Artist Research Space (BARS) and is currently a professor of African American art history at Fisk University and the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she teaches in the MFA in Curatorial Practice program.
Admission is free.
Warp & Weft | Reception
Thursday, October 26 :: 5-8pm | Ongoing through November 19
@ Richard B. Talkin Family Art Gallery
Curated by Maryland Art Place (MAP), “Warp & Weft” highlights female artists working in fiber. Women and their relationship to fiber have long been intertwined throughout history. Athena, goddess of war strategy, wisdom, justice, and crafts, was especially known for weaving. It is told that she made the first human woman’s dress for Pandora, teaching Pandora how to weave herself. This legacy was mirrored in the matriarchal tendencies of women, passing down their generational knowledge and know-how to their daughters. This was often seen with quilting, as example, which largely began out of necessity, eventually turning to more of an art form as techniques and needlework advanced. The female role has increased tenfold over the last five decades to encompass domestic, emotional, and financial responsibilities. Perhaps women today have become the “Warp,” the generally stronger thread in the weave: the foundation for the “Weft” that flows between.
Warp & Weft includes artworks by Jennifer McBrien, Karin Birch, Pamela Thompson, Bonnie Crawford, Sasha Baskin, Katie O’Keefe and Christine Wolfe Strong. Taking a contemporary approach to age old techniques, the exhibition will include everything from felting, embroidery, stitching and weaving.
Maryland Art Place (MAP) inspires, supports, and encourages artistic expression through innovative programming, exhibitions, and educational opportunities while recognizing the powerful impact art can have on our community. MAP creates a dynamic environment for artists of our time to engage with the public by nurturing and promoting new ideas. mdartplace.org
Read more about this week’s picks at BmoreArt.
