Fanfare's first week features hip-hop, Louisiana roots, classic stage comedy
Contact: Christina Chapple
9/23/06
Editors: See captions for week one photos below.
High resolution photos available for download at
http://www2.selu.edu/NewsEvents/Columbia/fanfaremedia06_photos.html
HAMMOND – As October arrives, the first full week of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s annual arts festival, is off and running.
Included in Fanfare’s week one are mesmerizing hip-hop artists, lectures and music celebrating Louisiana, the classic stage comedy “Blythe Spirit,” two acclaimed sopranos, and an enchanted evening with a legendary French songstress.
The week’s highlight is “Break!” The Urban Funk Spectacular,” which will bring hot street dancing honed to a razor sharp art form to the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts on Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. The talented dancers of “Break!” have soloed with show business legends from Puff Daddy to Ringo Starr. Together, the high-energy performers combine athletic ability with graceful choreography to pay tribute to an urban street phenomenon that has exploded into a 21st Century art form.
Tickets for “Break! The Urban Funk Spectacular” are $28.50, adults; $24.50, senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff, and alumni; $20, group rate; and $15, non-Southeastern students. Southeastern students are admitted free with I.D.
Fanfare’s special 2006 series, “Louisiana Roots,” will debut Oct. 2 with a post-Katrina revision of New Orleans actor and author Roberts Batson’s “Amazing Place, This New Orleans.” Baton’s critically acclaimed one-man show is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Lake Pontchartrain Maritime Museum, 133 Mabel Drive in Madisonville.
Louisiana Roots continues on Oct. 4, with a presentation by Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his “vibrant and compassionate” post-Katrina writing. The author of “1 Dead in Attic,” Rose will speak at 1 p.m. in Pottle Auditorium. His lecture is free and will be followed by a book signing.
Rose’s lecture is also the first of five presentations in Fanfare’s entertaining and eclectic “Then and Now” lecture series, which highlights the wit and wisdom of members of the Department of History and Political Sciences. The 2006 edition of the popular series is dedicated to Donald C. Rhodes, retired associate professor of government who was a member of the Southeastern faculty more than three decades.
On Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Southeastern’s Pottle Music Building Auditorium, the Louisiana Roots continues with “The Last Straws,” a group of traditional jazz enthusiasts who have been playing together for nearly half a century. Their program brings to life the musical and visual treasures of jazz through photographs, live music, authentic arrangements and vintage instruments. Tickets for “The Last Straws” are $15, adults; $12, senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff, and alumni; $8, non-Southeastern students; and $5, Southeastern students.
Although France’s beloved “Little Sparrow,” songstress Edith Piaf, was not a Louisianian, the woman who brings her to life in “Soiree Edith Piaf” is a native of New Orleans. Therefore, the Louisiana Roots series is encompassing this unique event, which will be performed in a cabaret setting in the Columbia Conference Center on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Reviewers have called Scoggins’ performance “a remarkable evocation” of Piaf, famed for her heartfelt renderings of songs such as “La Vie en Rose” and “Je ne Regrette Rein.” General admission tickets are $30.
Fanfare’s first week will also include
-- the first of four free “Sunday with Arts” concerts at area churches. Award-winning Soprano Valerie Francis will perform Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. at Greenfield Baptist Church in Hammond.
-- the Southeastern Theatre’s production of Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blythe Spirt” from Oct. 4-7 at Vonnie Borden Theatre. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $10, general admission; $6, senior citizens, SLU faculty, staff, alumni; SLU students free with I.D.
-- the annual Fanfare Foreign Film Festival, which debuts with the Spanish film “In the Time of Butterflied,” on Oct. 4 at 3:30 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall. The subtitled film is free.
-- as a treat for opera enthusiasts, a concert by soprano Nicole Cabell, a rising star in the vocal world, on Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Pottle Auditorium. Tickets are $15, adults; $12, senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff, and alumni; $8, non-Southeastern students; and $5, Southeastern students.
-- three art exhibits, “Religion and Personal Identity” and “Her Flock” at Southeastern’s Contemporary Art Gallery in East Stadium and the International House of Blues Foundation exhibit of works by local school children in the Columbia Theatre lobby. Contemporary Art Gallery hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., weekdays, with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays).
-- the Hungarian Harvest Dance, Hungarian Settlement’s annual celebration of its heritage, on Oct. 7, 6 p.m., at the American Legion Hall in Hungarian Settlement. Advance tickets are $10, adults, and $5, children age 8-12. Admission is free for children under 7 free, and all tickets will be $15 at the door. For information, contact Sue Martin, (225) 209-1969.
Fanfare tickets are available online at http://www.columbiatheatre.org and at the Columbia box office, 220 East Thomas St., Hammond, (98) 543‑4371. Box office hours are noon to 5 p.m., weekdays, and one hour before performance time for events at the Columbia Theatre.
CAPTIONS ...
slu_fanfare06_break2.jpg, etc.
HIP HOP ARTISTRY – “Break! The Urban Funk Spectacular” will bring its cutting edge dance artistry to the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. as part of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s October festival of the arts.
slu_fanfare06_cabell.jpg
RISING STAR – Soprano Nicole Cabell, a rising star in the world of opera, will be the guest of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s art festival, on Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pottle Music Building Auditorium.
slu_fanfare06_rose.jpg
KATRINA STORIES – Southeastern Louisiana University’s Fanfare is saluting Louisiana artists and subjects in a special series, “Louisiana Roots.” The series will feature Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. at the Pottle Music Building Auditorium.
slu_fanfare06_laststraws.jpg
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF JAZZ – The Last Straws, an ensemble of traditional jazz enthusiasts, will present “The Sights and Sounds of Jazz” on Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Southeastern Louisiana University’s Pottle Music Building Auditorium.
slu_fanfare06_francis.jpg
FANFARE’S “SUNDAY WITH THE ART” – Soprano Valerie Francis will kick off Fanfare’s annual “Sunday with the Arts” free concert series at area churches with a recital Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. at Greenfield Baptist Church, 100 J.W. Davis Drive, Hammond.
slu_fanfare06_batson.jpg
AMAZING NEW ORLEANS – For Fanfare 2006, Roberts Baton’s will present an updated post-Katrina version of his one-man celebration of the Crescent City, “Amazing Place, This New Orleans,” Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Lake Pontchartrain Maritime Museum.
slu_fanfare06scoggins.jpg
REMEMBERING EDITH PIAF – Fanfare’s Louisiana Roots series will feature New Orleanian M.I. Scoggins’ amazing evocation of the legendary French songstress Edith Piaf on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts conference center.
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