Medal Of Honor Rag

This Friday, October 28th,  the California Stage will open the first show of the season, MEDAL OF HONOR RAG, directed by Janis Stevens and starring Patrick Murphy, Isaac Williams and Robert Bouge. 


The production will mark the twentieth year of California State in Sacramento.  The first production was THE FOX, an adaptation of a DH Lawrence novella of the same name, directed by California stage founder Dennis Wilkerson. 

California Stage opens its 20^th production year with a powerful drama about America’s readiness for its returning soldiers.

About one in three Vietnam veterans suffered from Full or partial Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the war.  It is estimated that over 300,000 of our returning solders from the Middle East will have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  MEDAL OF HONOR RAG, is a solemn true narration of one soldier's plight.  It is a dramatic, haunting play. 

Dale “D.J.” Jackson was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts in Vietnam in the 70’s. Disillusioned, despondent and depressed, he has seen countless psychiatrists since his return to the United States from the war and his initial reaction to this new psychiatrist is one of hostility and suspicion.  What follows are bitter and emotional exchanges as these two individuals, both guilty survivors of war, verbally spar until the doctor draws out the horror and disgust that has traumatized D.J.

The play is directed by Drama Desk Award nominee Janis Stevens, with Patrick Murphy  as the attending psychotherapist, Isaac Williams as the Medal of Honor winner Dale  DJ Jackson and Robert Bogue as a military police sergeant.

“Medal of Honor Rag” plays weekends from October 28 through November 27 2011 in the Three Penny Theater at the R25 Arts Complex, 1721 25th Street at 25^th Street in Midtown Sacramento. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2 PM. Ticket prices are $20.00, for general admission, $15.00, for active and retired military, students, SARTA members and seniors, and $12.00 for groups of six or more. Easy free parking available. No late seating. Reservations: 916-451-5822 or order online at www.CalStage.org

“MEDAL OF HONOR RAG retains its relevance, its power, its tortured compassion...it remains absorbing theatre and a bracing reminder of time past and distance yet to be traveled.”

...... - New York Times

CALIFORNIA STAGE THEATER COMPANY

2011 play season produced in collaboration with Matrix Arts, a non-profit serving the greater Sacramento area. 916-451-5822

1725 25 STREET SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, 95816-- WWW.CALSTAGE.ORG

                           

MatrixArts & ArtWorks@Fairytale Town

11th Annual ScholarShare Children's Book Festival

Saturday & Sunday
September 24 & 25
10AM - 4PM

Exercise Your Imagination, all weekend long at Fairytale Town's Children's Book Festival. Guests receive free admission both days thanks to generous support from ScholarShare College Savings Plan. This year MatrixArts & ArtWorks will have a booth for families to create their own books.  On Saturday, September 24, Kristi Yanaguchi, former Olympic athlete, will present her book, "Dream Big, Little Pig." Other activities include ongoing author and illustrator presentations on the Mother Goose Stage, and a wide array of hands-on literacy activities provided by several local area arts organizations, and more! 

Five Blocks Square -- History of Poverty Ridge

Five Blocks Square – Andres Duany, architect, and proponent of livable cities, says that the average person won’t walk more than five blocks before getting in their car to go shopping, drop by a café for coffee, or go to the grocery store. Writer Rebecca Solnit, author of San Francisco, Infinite City, has shown that even small five blocks can hold tremendous allure – history, culture, botanical delights, art, food, comedy, tragedy, even murder. She’s invited other cities to chart their imagination and create maps of their own communities.  We picked up the challenge.  

Four artists will chart not just space, but place, people and time in four imaginative maps of their neighborhood, just five blocks square.  The individual maps, photographs, and stories by collaborating writers, will be on display at ArtFox Gallery in midtown. An ArtTalk by the artists and their collaborators will be held at the California Stage.

Eventually, the maps will be recreated as a floor installation at a local coffee house. Anyone coming in for coffee or tea can walk on it, talk about it and pick up supplies to create their own 5 Block Square map of their neighborhood.  We hope to eventually map the entire city and create a 5 Block² guide to Sacramento.

This is just a teaser -- we've been working on a lot of new living history programs in partnership with the California Stage, the Sacramento County Historical Society and local libraries and will update you soon.

For more information: matrixarts@me.com

FoodTalk@Cafe Bernardo June 4 to June 25, 2011

Are you an aspiring food writer? Want to write a cookbook, memoir, restaurant reviews, or start a food or wine blog? Or, just want to talk food and improve the stories you tell around the kitchen table? Join us at FOODTALK@CAFE BERNARDO, Saturday mornings from 10 - 1 pm June 4 - June 25, 2011. Cafe Bernardo is located at 28th and Capitol Avenue in Midtown Sacramento. 

FoodTalk@Cafe Bernardo Midtown June 4, 11, 18, 25, 2011

$15 per session. $50 for the series. 10 am - 1 pm (includes conversation, tastings and beverage)

Blind Tasting -- Maryellen Burns & Lynn Gowdy 

It’s said we eat with our eyes first, but what if we took away one of our senses? Taste an array of Cafe Bernardo’s iconic menu items, stretch your palate, and create a new vocabulary for talking or writing about food and drink. June 4, 2011

Hunt, Gather, Cook -- Hank Shaw in conversation with Elaine Corn 

Hank Shaw, author of Hunt, Gather, Cook -- Finding the Forgotten Feast, will share his experiences in the field, in the kitchen and on the pages of his award winning blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook. Join in the conversation with journalist/cookbook writer Elaine Corn. Books available for purchase. June 11, 2011

Kitchen Diaries -- Joy Gee & Janice Kelley

All those recipes, and stories gathering in your head or garnered from cookbooks, blogs, food magazines and memory should be gathered for posterity. Artist Joy Gee and writer Janice Kelley will guide you through the creation of a hand-made book filled with original stories, recipes, illustrations, collage, clip art or photographs. June 18, 2011

Cookbook Sale and Swap

Meet Ann Rolke, Elaine Corn and other Northern California cookbook writers, plus choose from hundreds of new, used, and rare cookbooks, food essay, food history, gardening and wine books. Bring books to swap, too. June 25, 2011

Location

Cafe Bernardo Midtown 28th and Capitol Sacramento, CA 95818

Tickets available by emailing: foodtalk@me.com, 916-768-6077

More information:

 talkfood.tumblr.com  foodtalksacramento.blogspot.com matrixarts.blogspot.com

Reservations recommended. Contact: Maryellen Burns, 916-768-6077 for more information. Tickets also available on brownpapertickets.com

Proceeds benefit Friends Around the Table, MatrixArts Kids in the Kitchen and FoodTalk@the Library.

Sponsored by MatrixArts, a 501 (c3) non- profit that bridges the visual, literary, performing and culinary arts.

MatrixArts is Alive and Well and Living in Midtown

It was really hard to get back in gear after The Gift of Art, our annual holiday art show. Plus, we decided that the trek out to Fair Oaks was just to much for most of us and moved operations back to R25 in Midtown.  We will still partner with the Allied Ceramic Arts Institute and encourage our members to exhibit in their wonderful gallery, but our energies will remain focused on providing high quality visual, performing, literary and culinary art education programs for kids, teens and adults.  Wonderful programs like:

ArtWorks@the Library
FoodTalk@Cafe Bernardo
MatrixArts KidsLit 
DIY Publishing


For now, we're concentrating on getting our blogs together, creating a new newsletter that will be distributed through vertical response, planning for a ton of summer programs, and otherwise getting our #@*%  together. 


Keep in touch by contacting us at our new email: matrixarts@me.com  or call at 916-768-6077.  Our calendar will be up in just a few days.