Join Wandering Aesthetics at Akron Civic Theatre for our Bigger Than a Breadbox launch party and season announcement!
The Electric Pressure Cooker (Photo: Shane Wynn)
Building on the success of Wandering Aesthetics’ reoccurring Electric Pressure Cooker Cabaret (#EPCooker), Bigger Than a Breadbox is a vaudeville-style variety show. Vaudeville, once known as “the heart of American show business”, hearkens back one of the earliest forms of entertainment available to Akronites.
Bigger Than a Breadbox is a dynamic quarterly event that celebrates artistic excellence and unites audiences through affordable access to a revolving lineup of high quality performers. Breadbox tours Akron, creating performances that are comprised of acts selected from the #EPCooker and the neighborhood where each production is held. Acts reflect a diverse array of talent and all performers are paid. Shows include 8 – 12 acts that range from 10 – 20 minutes.
“Imprisoned” featuring Neema Tamang (Photo: Katie Beck)
“Under Pressure”, a standalone #AkronBreadbox production, brings together some of the hottest acts from the Electric Pressure Cooker Cabaret – Akron’s sensational sizzling open mic – for an evening of vaudeville-flavored fun.
Featuring music, comedy, poetry, theatre, and a few surprises, this variety show has something for everyone – even if you’ve never heard of the Electric Pressure Cooker Cabaret.
Come early to visit a selection of local art and craft vendors.
“Wandering Aesthetics’ Electric Pressure Cooker Presents…Bigger Than a Breadbox” was made possible, in part, by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge.
DATE & TIME
March 31, 2018
Doors/Vendors: 5:30 pm
Performance: 7:00 pm
LOCATION
Akron Civic Theatre
182 S. Main St.
Akron, OH 44308
PRICE
$25.00 per ticket.
Tickets are available at www.akronbreadbox.com or at the door. For more information, please call 330.612.3090 or email [email protected]
THE LINE-UP
Emcee: Matthew Dolan
“Ohio Shakespeare Loves to Fight” (Theatre/Movement)
“The #CreativeSummit: State of the Arts” (Speech)
“The Poets: JaH and Craig presents ‘What is Love?’” (Performance Poetry)
“How Many More?” (Theatre with Poetry)
“Tearful Sails and False Rituals” (Speech)
“Desert-Swept Indie Folk” (Music – Solo)
“Voting Isn’t Cool” (Theatre)
“Ask Me (Almost) Anything” w/Local Celebrities (Q&A Panel)
“Imprisoned” (Theatre/Performance Art)
“Feats of Strength” (Circus Arts)
“Anchor the Moon meets Bad News Benny” (Music – Band)
ABOUT THE EMCEE
Matthew Dolan is a music director, pianist, improvisor and arts educator who lives in Akron, but whose work can be seen across Northeast Ohio.
He is a co-founder of the Akron-based Just Go With It Improv. Dolan has also performed with Point of No Return (Cuyahoga Falls), Title TBD! An Improvised Musical, Something Dada, and Torque: Full Throttle Improv.
In his spare time, Dolan enjoys sharing a meal, a drink, and a laugh with friends.
ABOUT THE ACTS
“Ohio Shakespeare Loves to Fight”
Presented by: Ohio Shakespeare Festival (Downtown Akron)
Performed by: Ryan Zarecki & Tess Burgler
Kapow! Kabam! Kaboom!
Ohio Shakespeare’s in the room!
Resident Fight Director Ryan Zarecki and Managing Director Tess Burgler will demonstrate three different styles of stage combat: rapier dueling, ax and shield vs. mace and shield and unarmed combat. This combative duo will give the audience a behind-the-scenes look at how a fight is created and what it looks like when it comes to full fruition on stage.
“The #CreativeSummit: State of the Arts”
Remarks from Nicole Mullet Executive Director of ArtsNow/SummitLive365.com
Nicole Mullet, Executive Director of ArtsNow, will share some of the latest and greatest arts-related news happening in our city and beyond!
ArtsNow is an innovative non-profit which connects arts, culture, and community in Summit County.
JaH and Craig presents “What is Love?” (Photo: Shane Wynn)
“The Poets: JaH and Craig presents ‘What is Love?’”
Written and performed by: Darnell Griffiths (Kent, OH), Jakim Harvey (Kent, OH)
This passionate pair of poets present a plethora of performance pieces put forward to provoke profound ponderings.
“Tearful Sails and False Rituals”
Written and performed by: McCartney Betz (Norton High School)
A speech about gun control and youth activism in today’s “Tide Pod-eating” generation.
Betz is a state quarter-finalist in the ‘Humorous Interpretation’ event representing the Norton speech and debate team.
“How Many More?”
Presented by: Wandering Aesthetics
Scenes from “Bang Bang You’re Dead” written by: William Mastrosimone
Performed by: Students primarly from the Theatre Arts Career Academy
Steven “Ksan” Cooper (Stow High School), Josie Reynolds (Cuyahoga Falls High School), Amelia McCauley (Tallmadge High School), Hannah Belknap (Tallmadge High School), Abigail Smith (Kent Roosevelt High School), Lexi Rushnok (Stow High School), Nicholas Bishop (Stow High School), Brandon Morgan (Stow High School), Carson Whaples (Cuyahoga Falls High School), Anastasija Saric (Tallmadge High School)
Poetry written and performed by: Bree Chambers (Firestone High School)
“Playgrounds become battlefields/The students soldiers/kindergarteners make play barricades with their folders.”
This group of tremendously talented high school students raise their voices to take a stand against gun violence.
“Bang Bang You’re Dead” was written in the wake of three school shootings: Thurston High School (Springfield, Oregon), Heath High School (Paducah, Kentucky) and Westside Middle School (Jonesboro, Arkansas). Even though this show was written before the 1999 Columbine massacre, it is just one of the tragedies foreshadowed in this play. Bree Chambers adds her own original words to this act with a poem that was originally written and performed as part of the student-led walkout at Firestone High School on March 14, 2018.
“Desert-Swept Indie Folk”
Music by: Iris Isadora
Iris Isadora, a singer/songwriter, “Queen of Heartache” and self-described desert-swept indie/folk gal, will serenade the crowd with her soulful acoustic covers and originals.
“Voting Isn’t Cool”
Written by: Chad Weaver, Comedian
Presented by: Wandering Aesthetics
Katie Beck (Akron – North Hill), Nici Romo (Stow, OH), Jennifer Betz (Norton, OH), Kyle Jozsa (Akron – West Hill)
Voting isn’t cool. Or is it? This satirical theatre scene is the only way to find out.
“Ask Me (Almost) Anything” panel w/Local Celebrities
Presented by: Wandering Aesthetics
Featuring: Yoly Miller (Akron – West Hill), Benjamin Isaiah Black (Akron) & a mystery guest
There are two rules to this “Ask Me Anything” panel:
1.) The audience can ask the panelists anything.
2.) The panelists can refuse to answer any question. However, if they choose to answer a question, they must answer honestly.
“Imprisoned”
Presented by: Gum-Dip Theatre
Devised by: Nim Tamang (Akron – North Hill) and Katie Beck (Akron – North Hill)
Performed by: Nim Tamang
A solo performance devised by Nim Tamang and Katie Beck. “Imprisoned” was devised around the journey of one man who breaks from his traditions to explore his inner child through free play and self-bondage. The piece features “Towards the Latter Half of My Life”, a poem written and red by Nabin Prachin who recorded from Katmandu, Nepal.
Feats of Strength with Mark Burnett (Photo: John R. Aylward Photography)
“Feats of Strength”
Performed by: Mark Burnett (Akron, OH)
Mark Burnett steals the show by bending time and space (By which we mean metal objects. He bends metal with his bare hands, y’all.) in this “ye olde time” strongman spectacular.
“Anchor the Moon meets Bad News Benny”
Presented by: Anchor the Moon (Band, Genre: Rock) (Cleveland Heights, OH) and Bad News Benny (Band, Genre: Rogue Folk aka Folk Punk) (Tallmadge, OH)
It’s like a mini battle of the bands.
But instead of battling, the bands are friendly, come together to form a supergroup, and decide to spread peace through jamming to some groovy tunes.
ABOUT WANDERING AESTHETICS
Dreamt into being on the mountains of Appalachia, where founders Benjamin Rexroad and Kyle Jozsa completed a thru-hike of the 2,185.9-mile Appalachian Trail, Wandering Aesthetics rose (like an overused cliché) from the ashes of Heads Up Productions. The organization is an Akron, Ohio-based storytelling theatre company bent on exploring our American roots and identity through the lens of narrative. We build community through person-to-person contact, connecting disparate peoples through events and performance, investigating the human link in our diverse cultural heritage. For more, visit http://www.watheatre.com.
ABOUT THE KNIGHT ARTS CHALLENGE
The Knight Arts Challenge funds the best ideas for engaging and enriching Akron through the arts.
For more information visit: www.knightarts.org
ABOUT THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.
This Bigger Than a Breadbox has been made possible through grants and support from:
Akron Community Foundation
The Akron/Summit Convention and Visitors Bureau
GAR Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Summit Artspace
Junior Leadership Akron
