ALBANY — The UAlbany Performing Arts Center presents Dan Froot & Company in Pang! for three public performances taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday, April 20-22, on the uptown University at Albany campus located at 1400 Washington Ave.
Pang! is an original work adventurously staged as a triptych of live radio plays based on the oral histories of real working-class American families hungering for change. It explores social challenges ranging from food insecurity to gun violence to foreclosure to anti-immigrant bias. Pang! aims to raise awareness, decrease stigma and promote cross-class dialogue around circumstances faced by families living below the poverty line.
Performed as if recording a live radio broadcast or podcast, the actors at microphones voice dozens of characters from 18-months to 77-years old; from a Burundian refugee speaking in his home language to a 7-year-old Miami boy whose dialogue is spoken in unison by the entire ensemble. Pang!’s performers include Natalie Camunas, Krista Gonzalez, Christopher Rivas and Froot.
Over the course of eight months in 2015-16, the company created six book-length oral histories of families living with food insecurity in Cedar Rapids, Los Angeles and Miami. They then collaborated with one of the families from each city to devise the three 30-minute plays that comprise Pang! The families consulted with the company continuously throughout the adaptation, rehearsal and performance processes.
Advance tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. Tickets purchased on the day of the show (pending availability) are $20 for the general public and $15 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. All tickets must be purchased on-line from the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s web site at www.albany.edu/pac. Information and assistance can be obtained by contacting the UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s main office at 518-442-3995 or PAC@albany.edu.
In addition to the public performance, Pang! will also be performed for area high school students on Thursday and Friday, April 20 & 21 at 10 a.m. Admission is free, but reservations are required. Limited seating is available. Educators wishing to bring groups can contact the UAlbany Performing Arts Center office at 518-442-3995 or PAC@albany.edu. Home school students and parents are also welcome.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —Home Made Theater will offer an award of $500 to a graduating senior who will pursue courses in Theater Arts – either as a performer or on the technical level.
The student needs to have demonstrated an active interest in their area and should submit the following: A list of activities in this area, including clubs, classes and performances which the student has been involved in for the past three years; Two letters of support, preferably from people within the discipline in which the student is applying; A high school transcript; A letter written by the student that includes pertinent information on their goals, the schools to which they are applying, the course of study they intend to pursue and other information which may offer important criteria in the selection process.
The information should be mailed by April 28 to: Home Made Theater, Jonathan Foster Memorial Award, P.O. Box 1182, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Please include home address and telephone number.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — What’s in a name? Plenty when it comes to how some local residents see themselves represented.
A new movie by local filmmaker Shaun Rose is garnering loud feedback from some in the community in which the movie was made – largely due to its one-word title: Toga.
“I’ve never seen this before with any type of movie on any type of level. The fanatical ones, they’re at me like rabid animals,” Rose says.
The 61-minute film tells Rose’s continuing story of a person progressing through different stages of their life. Released in January, “Toga” follows freelance videographer ‘Ellis Martin’ on assignment, scouting locations in the town where he was raised.
“I grew up in Saratoga Springs over on the west side of town by the high school,” says Rose. “Toga” is a semi-autobiographical film and a sequel to his previous work, “Upstate Story.”
“Getting into some of the biographical details of the movie, just channeling that, I think has been very therapeutic for me,” says the 37-year-old filmmaker.
“The character is a fictionalized version of me, but there’s a lot of truth in that movie; Capturing me at different aspects, different time periods of my life,” says Rose, who handled most of the writing, directing, acting, and image-making/editing of the independent film. “Pretty much everything; tackling so many different roles, but I did have some help,” he says.
“It has received good reviews from outside sources and has built up quite a few views over on YouTube. But it’s been controversial, to say the least – mostly due to the name alone and I’ve received a lot of hate from fellow locals over the shortening of our town name,” says Rose, privately sharing some of the more personally focused messages he received. Rose isn’t wrong in his labeling of these as “outright vulgar and disgusting. My girlfriend and co-producer received some as well.”
Saratoga: What’s In A Name
There is more than one Saratoga in the U.S. – a town in Wyoming, a city in California, and a Saratoga Springs in Utah, among them. Closer to home, the Town of Saratoga Springs was set apart from the Town of Saratoga in 1819. It was incorporated as a village in 1826, and in 1915 the City of Saratoga Springs came into existence. Its translation and spelling are varied:
• “Saratoga after an Iroquois Indian word Sarachtoue, which translates to “place of miraculous water in the rock.” – Visit Saratoga Wyoming, Carbon County Visitors Council.
• “Saratoga, it is said, is derived from an Iroquois word, Se-rach-to-que, literally, ‘floating scum upon the water,’ a completely understandable interpretation to be put on the presence of mineral deposits showing up as vari-colored film on the surface of a pond.” – Saratoga Historical Foundation, Saratoga California.
• “Among the earliest dates in which the name Saratoga appears in history is the year 1684. It was not then the name of a town, nor of a county, neither was it the name of a great watering-place; but it was the name of an old Indian hunting-ground located along both sides of the Hudson River…Se-rach-ta-gue, or the “hill-side country of the great river.”- Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, 1878, History Of Saratoga County, N.Y.
Toga? What People Are Saying
An inquiry posted this week on locally focused social media channels asking folks to reply with their preferred usage of “Saratoga” vs. “Toga” returned more than 200 comments.
Some said they took no issue with either. Others pointed to the two-syllable “to-ga” as affording a clean and simple chant at high school sporting events.
Those opposed to the abbreviated version – which counted more than twice as many commentators – said they had either had never heard the phrase uttered, or set blame for its usage on everything from “the younger generation” and summertime “invaders from New Jersey” to John Belushi’s portrayal of the bellicose toga-draped John “Blutto” Blutarsky in the 1978 film “Animal House.”
Here are some of the comments:
• Calling Saratoga Toga is like calling your father “the old man,” or calling your mother by her first name, or calling your wife “my old lady”, etc. etc. Sounds cool to those of the same mindset. Lived in the area for most of my life and TOGA is just one of the many little things that irk some of us “OLD TIMERS” – Don.
• “Toga” is a nickname used by Saratoga high athletics only. Anyone else referring to Saratoga as Toga is a Neanderthal – Scott.
• We don’t call it ‘Toga. New people do – Michele.
• Toga a known cheer and chant. Nothing wrong with it. Everyone knows where Toga is – Barbara.
• My dad is 79 and my mom is 73. We’ve all lived here our whole lives. I know plenty of “old” Saratogians and I’ve never heard it – Amber.
• TOGA was probably made popular by a drunken frat boy – Heather.
• Lifelong born and raised, graduated from SSHS. It has always been shortened to Toga – Dee.
• Been here since 1956. Toga is an abomination. Nobody called it that when I was growing up… and get off my lawn while you’re at it – Eric.
• Notice that cranky “baby boomers” are the only ones offended – Bruce.
• Bruce – boomer here…not offended. SSHS class of ‘79 and we used to chant this at basketball and football games, taking a page from Animal House – Cathy.
• This must be coming from people who were NOT raised in Saratoga. No one I know of calls it Toga – Joan.
• Lifelong resident and it’salways been Toga! My kids, current students, call it Toga! Never found it offensive or complained about the shortened name. A lot easier to chant “let’s go Toga!” – LeeAnn.
• True natives say “Sara-doga” born there, raised there, still return any time I can. Never heard the Roman sheet reference until recent times. Kind of goes with backward ball caps and flips flops, not good – Brian.
• I have called it both. At sporting events it was yelled as Toga but I normally said just Saratoga. I was not born and raised here but my kids call it both. Don’t really get what there is to be offended by but I guess that’s the way of the world at present. – Jonna.
Rose first became Inspired to make films while growing up watching movies that came into his home from the video rental store that stood in the strip mall on South Broadway.
“I used to go there all the time with my family and rent movies. I just fell in love with movies as a teenager,” he says.
“I always try to make movies to connect with people. Outside the obvious title fiasco, I’ve gotten positive feedback from a lot of people who have liked it. Something that people can connect with,” Rose says.
“When we usually see coming of age movies -it’s common to see kids transitioning into teenagers, or teenagers into adults – but what about further areas of adulthood? We don’t really see that. I think we as people never stop growing, or maturing, bettering ourselves. It’s constantly a learning curve,” he says. “I try to make things that people can connect with, a story I’m trying to tell, and balance it with comedy or drama so people can be entertained by it as well.”
The film may be viewed on YouTube by searching “Shaun Rose” and “Toga.” Note, the film contains mature themes and strong language.
Suzanne Vega performs in Saratoga Springs on Friday, April 14. Photo: suzannevega.com.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Suzanne Vega performs at Universal Preservation Hall on Friday, April 14.
Vega, who released her acclaimed debut in 1985, will be joined on stage by her longtime guitarist, Gerry Leonard, performing favorites from across her career.
Vega’s self-titled debut, co-produced by Steve Addabbo and Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye, saw the release of her songs “Marlene On The Wall,” “Small Blue thing,” and “The Queen and the Soldier.”
Her 1987 follow-up, “Solitude Standing’ — again co-produced by Addabbo and Kaye — was nominated for three Grammys and went platinum in the U.S., selling three million copies worldwide, powered by her song “Luka,” and her initial, original a cappella piece, “Tom’s Diner.”
Vega’s latest album, “An Evening of New York Songs and Stories,” was recorded at the Café Carlyle in New York City.
Tickets available at: universalpreservationhall.org.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — This week, iconic British duo Tears For Fears, announced their North American 2023 summer tour — The Tipping Point Tour Part II – with special guest Cold War Kids.
Produced by Live Nation, the 22-city tour kicks off in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 23, and includes a stop at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Saturday, July 2.
General public on sale tickets will be available starting Friday, April 7 at TearsForFears.com.
Tears For Fears – Roland Orzabal (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Curt Smith (vocals, bass, keyboards) formed in Bath, England 1981. Tears For Fears has sold over 30 million albums worldwide with singles such as “Shout,” “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” “Mad World,” “Sowing The Seeds Of Love,” and “Woman In Chains.” In 2022, the band released their latest studio album, “The Tipping Point.”
SCHENECTADY — Tootsie, the award-winning musical, is coming to Proctors in Schenectady for a limited one-week engagement from April 11-16.
The laugh-out-loud love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime.
Tootsie is based on the story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart and the Columbia Pictures Motion Picture produced by Punch Productions and starring Dustin Hoffman.
For more information, visit www.tootsiemusical.com
Michael Eck performing at UPH March 27, representing the folk career of Wanda Fischer. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Five regional music artists – Mike Campese, Felicia Collins, George Frayne, Smokey Greene and John Tichy – as well as photographer Martin Benjamin, educator Sister Mary Anne Nelson, and CSJ and radio host and folk musician Wanda Fischer, were celebrated during an induction ceremony for the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Hall of Fame this week.
The event staged at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs on March 27.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It promises the potential of being one of the most fun triple-bill-staging of the summer, although Saratoga residents will have to travel a bit to get there.
The Pixies and Modest Mouse this week announced they will be joining forces for the third and final leg of Pixies’ 2023 North American tour.
The tour, also featuring special guest Cat Power, includes a stop at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown on Friday, Aug. 25, and at Mass MoCa on Aug. 26.
Tickets go on sale for the Cooperstown show Friday, March 31 and can be purchased here at: https://tixr.com/e/66082
The Pixies 2022-2023 World Tour is in support of the band’s latest album Doggerel (BMG). The band features Black Francis/guitar, vocals, Joey Santiago/guitar, David Lovering/drums, background vocals, and Paz Lenchantin/bass, background vocals.
CrupiHands: Jennifer Crupi, “Ornamental Hands Two,” sterling silver. Photo provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Schick Gallery at Skidmore College presents “7 Metalsmiths at Work,” a wide-ranging exhibition of jewelry and sculpture, March 31 through April 28. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 31, with a gallery talk beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The craftsmanship of artists Lynn Batchelder, Andy Cooperman, Jennifer Crupi, Terry Lavin, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Chris Ramsay, and Lin Stanionis — who hail from as far as Kansas, Oklahoma, and Seattle to as near as New Paltz, New York — conveys underlying concepts that are both inventive and inspiring. Along with finished pieces, each of the seven artists will show process work — a selection of sketches, studies, or models — offering viewers a look at how their ideas begin and develop.
“7 Metalsmiths at Work” is curated by Skidmore Art Professor David Peterson, with Schick Gallery Director Rebecca Shepard and Assistant Director Trish Lyell.
Schick Gallery events are free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday; and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visit www.skidmore.edu/schick for updated information on related events.
