Anything But English: a multilingual Cabaret

Patrick’s Cabaret presents… Anything But English: a multilingual Cabaret A different line-up each night! Friday, May 29th & Saturday, May 30th, 2015 at 7:30 PM $8 in advance from artists or $10 at the door FRIDAY, MAY 29th ARTISTS: Co-hosted by Alejandra Tobar Alatriz Magdalena Kaluza Chitra Vairavan with Kealoha Ferreira, Prakshi Malik, Magnolia Yang Sao-Yia, Anaïs Deal-Márquez, and Renee Copeland Javier Morillo Alejandra Tobar Alatriz Ifrah Mansour Loc Tran Ameet Kamath SATURDAY, MAY 30th ARTISTS: Co-hosted by Saymoukda Vongsay Ifrah Mansour Alys Ayumi Ogura Francisco Benavides & Alex Hathaway Phuoc Thi Minh Tran Armenian Dance Ensemble of Minnesota Saymoukda Vongsay Curated and co-hosted by Scott Artley, Patrick's Cabaret Performing Arts Curator ABOUT “ANYTHING BUT ENGLISH” Patrick’s Cabaret presents two nights showcasing artists whose first language is Anything But English to present works about mother tongues, global appetites, and the ways we are lost (and found) in translation. On Friday, May 29th, Alejandra Tobar Alatriz co-hosts the first evening of performances, and shares her own work about being at home in the body, in queerness, as a light-skinned woman of color, and as an immigrant in a diasporic family. Magdalena Kaluza presents a short-form piece using creative writing to explore her Latin@ heritage. Born in Vietnam in 1992, Loc Tran, a pianist who is autistic and legally blind, presents classical and contemporary music from memory. Storyteller Javier Morillo recounts the the death of a pet dog and a fateful Boy Scout field trip through the lens of his Puerto Rican Army Brat family. Contemporary Indian dancer of Tamil/South Indian-American descent Chitra Vairavan (along with fellow dancers Kealoha Ferreira, Prakshi Malik, and Magnolia Yang Sao-Yia) presents a piece in the language of dance and breath, in collaboration with musicians who also speak anything but English (Anaïs Deal-Márquez and Renee Copeland). The work is intentionally created on bodies of womyn of color, and tells a story that threads their experiences together in depth, breath and movement. Multidisciplinary performance and fashion artist Ifrah Mansour, recently named amongst a global list of “Ten Somali Artists & Entertainers to Watch in 2015,” combines movement, projections, and film for “esug/wait,” about a woman struggling to connect with fleeting memories. On Saturday, May 30th, award-winning playwright and poet Saymoukda Vongsay co-hosts the second evening of performances, and presents her own retellings of Lao folktales. The Armenian Dance Ensemble of Minnesota, an intergenerational dance group, presents a short program of traditional dances. Francisco Benavides is joined by Alex Hathaway for a new narrative theater piece seeking to alienate the audience through the obstacle of speech, and ultimately communicating through the extra-linguistic “languages” of physical performance. Alys Ayumi Ogura presents a new choreographed work-in-progress called “Don’t let...go” that plays with silence, ambiguity, and translation. Ifrah Mansour performs both nights. Just added: Vietnamese storyteller Phuoc Thi Minh Tran presents traditional tales.