On the Slab: A Cabaret Experience

  • Date & Time: September 9, 7:00PM to 10:00 PM
  • Location: Armory Northwest, 965 N. Fair Oaks (directions below)
  • Admission: $10.00, beverages included
  • Contact: Richard Amromin at (626)398-9278 or email at info@newtownarts.org

On The Slab is not your parents’ cabaret, your children’s circus or your institute’s portrait gallery. New theater, adult circus, visual arts and a sonic kaleidoscope of live music, all lubricated with cold beer, soothing wine and icy H2O on a sultry summer evening remixes classical cabaret with a decidedly eclectic and avant attitude. Sit back, stand up, lounge, meet friends, dance, sip away the heat and sate every art Jones festering over the long hot summer.

Program
David Ornette Cherry with Ensemble for Improvisers
Arabic Music from Kan Zaman
Electro Acoustic Avant Opera from Non Credo (Joe Berardi and Kira Vollman)
Short performances from Here and Now Theatre Company
Comedy Savant Tim Simpson
Cutting-Edge Clown, Mitchel Evans
Contortionist/hand balancer Jena Carpenter
Surprises

Discover the Armory Partners, eleven, independent, small to mid-size arts organizations enriching the artistic palette of Pasadena: About Productions, African Heritage Foundation, Blacksmith School, Here and Now Theatre Co., Instrumental Women, Jumbo Shrimp Circus Academy, Kan Zaman, Latino Heritage Association, NewTown Pasadena Foundation, Pasadena Artworks Academy, SAPPA (Scholarship Auditorium Performance Preparatory Academy), Side Street Projects and So & So Creations.

Proceeds from this event are plowed directly into future arts programming by The Armory Partners.

Directions to “On The Slab”
Because the offramps are so confusing in Old Pasadena, we suggest you use MapQuest for directions. That said, here are some tips. From Colorado Blvd. in Old Pasadena, go North on Fair Oaks Ave. Go approximately one mile and you will see a plain brown building with banners on the front, that announce it as The Armory. The show is in the rear. There is parking in rear, on the south side of the building and on the street. Go to the back of the building and enter at the north end.


About The Artists
(In Alphabetical Order)

Jena Carpenter
Presented by Jumbo Shrimp Circus Academy

Jena Carpenter dedicated herself to a career as an aerialist, acrobat, and contortionist following extensive training in Dance from Oberlin College, studies at the San Francisco Circus Center, and private coaching from various circus professionals with origins as diverse as the Moscow Circus School, Mongolia, and L’ecole Nationale du Cirque in Montreal.

Jena moved to Los Angeles in 2001 as one half of a duo with her sister Beth. They were founding members of the Eye of Newt Circus where they worked with artists from Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize, Diavolo Dance Company, and the Pickle Family Circus to create unique theatrical circus productions. Jena’s work also includes performing in music videos for OutKast and Dru Hill, performing her solo contortion act on Soaptalk, and doing acrobatics and stunts for the motion-capture animated film “The Polar Express”. Jena’s newest performance collaboration is with Liza Rose. They perform graceful modern-dance-influenced partner hand-balancing, and duo aerial skills, trapeze and hoop. Their most recent performance was with “Rites and Rituals”, a full-length theatrical production choreographed by Christopher Fleming of the Rock School in Philadelphia, and produced by Keith Arsenault of Circus Nexus in Florida.

David Ornette Cherry with Ensemble for Improvisers
Presented by SAPPA with assistance from NewTown

The son of jazz great Don Cherry keeps the continuum alive with his own music. LA’s own David Ornette Cherry has found his voice with what he calls “multi-kulti” music. “My music is a union of textures, sounds, lifestyles, surroundings, and messages in a universal language emphasizing a positive state of mind,” says Cherry. Fans already familiar with his inventive, improvisational style will be in for a treat. For everyone else, be prepared for adventure!

Mitchel Evans
Presented by Jumbo Shrimp Circus Academy

Mitchel Evans is a multi-faceted artist: a mordant clown with a dark physical comedic sensibility; an accomplished mime; and a fine arts photographer. He recently appeared as part of the Lolita LaVey cabaret show at the El Cid on July 27th, 2006, synthesizing classical clown techniques, contemporary adult themes and the occasional foray into multimedia.

Here and Now Theatre Company
Presented by Here and Now

Here and Now, an exciting newcomer to the Pasadena arts community brings a long and skilled commitment to a spectrum of theatre experiences. Their youth theatre defies easy categorization, engaging young people in experiences resonating into their everyday life. Their commitment to new theatre, including many premieres brings to Pasadena an adventuresome new voice, often reflecting tied to the Pacific Rim and Latino experiences of our region.

Kan Zaman
Presented by Kan Zaman

Kan Zaman Community Ensemble performs classical and traditional folk songs from various Arab countries, employing traditional musical instruments such as the qanun (zither), ‘ud (lute), nay (reed flute), kaman (violin), riqq (tambourine) and darabukkah (goblet drum). Our programs feature a number of waslat (suites) using different maqamat (modes). The wasla (suite) starts with an instrumental introduction, taqsim (instrumental improvisation), mawwal (vocal improvisation) and a medley of songs performed by the chorus and solo vocalists. The performances include muwashshahat, a form of poetic songs started around the ninth century in Arab Spain. The muwashshahat performed by the group are the ones encountered in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. This form of muwashshahat is different from the Nuba and the Maluf of North Africa. The ones encountered in the Middle East evolve from a certain form of poetry that has three to four lines.

In addition to muwashshahat, the group performs songs of major artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries such as Muhammad ‘Uthman, Sayyid Darwish, M. Abdel Wahab, Umm Kalthum, Farid Al Atrash, Asmahan, Fairuz and many others. The group also performs traditional folk songs from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Iraq, and the Arabian Gulf.

Non Credo (Joe Berardi and Kira Vollman)
Presented by Kan Zaman

Non Credo is the duo of Kira Vollman and Joseph Berardi. She’s a singer, he’s a drummer, but their musical palette extends well beyond the scope of their primary instruments. Clarinets, marimbas, accordions, cellos, broken down keyboards, cheap electronics, altered children’s toys and anything else that falls into their path are utilized. Their sound, with its quick-witted arrangements and Teutonic expressionism balanced by a whimsical attitude, falls solidly into the RIO (Rock In Opposition) camp.

Their new release, Impropera, is a bit of a departure from their previous multi-layered approach to recording. Capturing the spontaneity of their live performances, they present an “improvised opera”. Utilizing Kira’s remarkable vocal range and a musical landscape of bass clarinet, percussion and unusual samples, they lead the listener on a journey with many detours and dark alleys along the way. Be prepared to get seasick, beaten up, thrown in jail, fall in love, contract an STD, have your heart broken, your wallet stolen, get shanghaied, hog tied and crucified.

Tim Simpson
Presented by Jumbo Shrimp Circus Academy

Tim Simpson melds his talents as a comedy savant with intimate circus ambience and the trappings of classical vaudeville. His ukulele, broad humor and rare virtuosity on the musical bicycle pump are a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Coming Soon