IS LADY LUCK ON YOUR SIDE? The Ragged Wing Ensemble is presenting Fortune: The Complete Works, through Sunday May 27, and it will be one of the first performances in the new Osher Studio in the not-yet-quite-opened Arpeggio Building at 2055 Center Street. Ragged Wing is an ensemble of actors whose mission is to “catalyze a deep cultural shift where artistic action is at the center of vital social change.” The performance is the final chapter in the group’s season-long exploration into Fortune in all its varied meanings. “It features 3 original performances (A Fool’s Errand, Atomic Intuition, Maybe Baby) plus a short feature film (No Outlet) combined with a pre-show ‘audience-interactive playground.” Get tickets here.
THE FIGHT AGAINST FASCISM Next week HBO will broadcast Hemingway & Gellhorn, a movie about the passionate love affair between the writer and journalist, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. On Sunday afternoon at Freight & Salvage, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) will celebrate the 3,000 Americans who fought against Franco’s Fascist forces in Spain 76 years ago. The program includes a talk by Kate Doyle, the 2012 recipient of the ALBA/Puffin Human Rights Award, who will discuss genocide and justice in Guatemala and an update on former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, an outspoken champion of human rights. Musicians Bruce Barthol, Velina Brown, Randy Craig, Tony Marcus, and Barrett Nelson will perform songs of the Spanish Civil War, with images of courage and resistance provided by Richard Bermack, documentary photographer and author of The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. More info here.
PUT YOUR DANCING SHOES ON Every Sunday from 11 am to 1 pm, Ashkenaz hosts a community freestyle dance that “supports free expression, community, physical and emotional health, and a spirit of generosity.” The volunteers who have been producing this dance fest since 2003 (called Soul Sanctuary Dance) put on eclectic blend of funk, soul, world music, positive hip hop, reggae, dance classics, jazz, blues, electronica, and other music to free mind, body and soul. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. Shoes are optional — 1317 San Pablo Avenue. More info at Soul Sanctuary Dance.
SAN QUENTIN AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN IT First Person Singular has been producing wildly imaginative recreations of cultural events and the Monday night performance of Johnny Cash’s legendary visit to San Quentin promises to be exciting. Join Josh Pollock and the East Bay Three in a “rocking reinterpretation” at the Ashby Stage at 1901 Ashby Avenue. “On the album At San Quentin, playing for an audience of riotously grateful convicts, he sounds not only humbled by his freedom, but shamed by it. He understood the struggle of walking the line, and knew that but for the grace of God (or June Carter) he — the Man in Black– might well be wearing prison blues ….. To make the experience complete, we’ll need a house of roaring inmates. Been out of your cell lately?” Get tickets at First Person Singular.
A LANDMARK EVENT The Golden Gate Bridge is clearly not in Berkeley, but it is such an integral part of the vista from Berkeley that we are including the 75th anniversary celebration in this list. The city of San Francisco is hosting a daylong event from 11 am to 11 pm that includes fireworks, an art exhibition at Fort Point, dance and music performances at a stage at Crissy Field, and a water parade of historic boats at the St. Francis Yacht Club. Here is an overview and here is a breakdown of events.
To find out about more events in Berkeley and nearby, visit Berkeleyside’s Events Calendar. And go ahead and submit your own events.
