Archive for February, 2019

This year’s Atlantia Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival (KASF) has a great plethora of performing arts activities for all Atlantians to enjoy!

Performing Arts Spike image by Gabriel the Traveler (Gabriel West) See more at https://www.facebook.com/erica.west.393

This is the Day-long schedule:

  • 10:00 – 12:00 Open Sign ups for performances
  • 12:00 – 1:00 Demonstration Hour – specific performances demonstrating all the different kinds of performing arts in the SCA
    • 12:00 – 2:00 — Theater Guild Class in short scripted scenes by Lord Owyn Wolf (in a separate classroom).
  • 1:00 – 2:00 Oldcastle Poetry Smackdown
  • 2:00 – 2:30 Theater Guild Scenes performance
  • 2:30 – 3:30 Commedia dell’ Arte performance by i Firenzi
  • 3:30 – 4:00 Open Sign ups for performances
  • 4:00 Court Begins

Open Sign Ups: Performers are encouraged to sign up ahead of time for 10 minute time slots during “open sign ups for performances” when they can perform their favorite material. Please sign up for just one 10 minute time slot until February 25. After February 25, if there are still open time slots, go ahead and take a second slot if you wish.

The morning hours of 10:00 –  12:00noon are set for Open Sign Ups.  The half hour of 3:30 – 4:00 might need to be used for Court setup – so please be flexible if you select that time slot.

The Demonstration Hour is an hour of 10 minute performances meant to showcase the wide variety of performing arts enjoyed by Atlantians. Six demonstrations will be shown: 

  1. Solo vocal with instrument
  2. Solo instrument
  3. Group Vocal
  4. Group Instrumental
  5. Poetry
  6. Scripted Theater

If you are interested in demonstrating one of these arts, please email Lady Kilmeny directly via “thekilmeny AT gmail DOT com.”

Commedia dell’ Arte will be demonstrated later in the day with i Firenzi’s afternoon performance.

Click here for the sign up sheet:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YaC2mMtqKypcD1QtTsn14BliF4p3r0C-qPlkYfhmQ0k/edit?usp=sharing 

The Oldcastle Poetry Smackdown will be run by Master Dunstan   leHeryngmongere. His description of the competition is below.

Lady Jean Kilmeny and Baroness Sophia the Orange are jointly organizing the performing arts portion of KASF.  Please direct questions and requests to Kilmeny after February 1 via “thekilmeny AT gmail DOT com.” 

Please direct questions about the Oldcastle Poetry Smackdown to Master Dunstan via his directions below at the end of his text.

Thank you for participating in Atlantia’s Performing Arts Community!

Sincerely yours, 

Baroness Sophia the Orange

Past Guildmistress, Atlantia Performing Arts, AS 50-AS 53

Oldcastle Poetry Smackdown Announcement from Master Dunstan  leHeryngmongere:

Greetings and Well wishes unto all the Poets, Lyricists, Orators and Wordsmiths in this, the fairest of all Kingdoms, Atlantia!


This year (2019) at the Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival (assuming the autocrat lets us in) there shall once again be held THE Duke Gyrth Oldcastle Memorial Poetry Smackdown, this one being the twelfth such annual event.

‘WHAT, PRAYTELL, IS A POETRY SMACKDOWN?’ I sense you asking . . .
I’m glad you asked.

The smackdown serves as an opportunity for poets of all experience levels to come and display their wordsmithing prowess in front of others in the spirit of good fun. This is not a competition, though each entrant shall be given a token to give to their favorite entry. And yes, occasionally some of the poets use this opportunity to . . . . make statements about each other. But that is by no means a requirement this year.

Entrants are asked to write the poems beforehand (this year there are two (2) poems required) and to either show up at the KASF to read their poems or to send them along with someone to read or to send them to me (the moderator of this year’s smack down) and I shall arrange to have them read.

There is an optional third poem that will be only for those who show up. The morning of the competition come find me and I will give you a verbal prompt. See #3 for a description below.


1) ENTRY POEM In honor of a great person and poet (Duke Gyrth Oldcastle) and in defiance of the many negative things happening in the SCA lately you must write a poem, in any period style, that speaks of the reason(s) why you still play in this game and dream this dream we share.

2) SHORT BUT SWEET- LET’S ALL TWEET!- A poem in any period style that speaks of a person that inspires you. Please note the definition of inspire; The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something. This can be a positive inspirational message or a full on smackdown, as long as it is about some form of inspiration. The catch is- it has to 144 words or less (not counting the title)

3) (OPTIONAL) THAT’S DEBATABLE- This one is only for folks who show up to the smackdown. In honor of the 500th anniversary of the debate between Martin Luther and John Eck wherein Martin famously denounces the Divine right of the Pope, I am going to give you a prompt and a note on whether or not you are ‘pro’ or ‘con’ for that prompt. Someone else unknown to you will be given the opposite side for that same prompt. You will be required to write, on site, a poem in any period style defending your stance. Then you and your oppone . . .er . . . colleague . . . will go head to head at the end of the smackdown.

Any questions, concerns, or dirty limericks should be addressed directly to me, your humble moderator.

Master Dunstan leHeryngmongere
On facebook you can message Keith Nealson if you have questions.

By Baroness Sophia the Orange, immediate past Guildmistress of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild

At the Atlantia University’s 100th session this Saturday, February 2, 2019, I officially passed the torch of leadership for the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild to Lady Jeane Kilmeny! Vivat!

SCA Guilds are unofficial organizations, similar to households, that are created and managed by the people invested in them. Like so many aspects of the SCA, you get out of it what you put into it.

After 3+ years of re-energizing this guild, I felt it was time to pass on leadership, and Kilmeny accepted my invitation. She is a fountain of great ideas, new energy, and stuff I never would have thought of. I will still pitch in, especially for technical support for this blog and the Google resources we’ve been using for sharing information within the guild. And now, the buck stops with the magnificent Kilmeny. She will serve our community well, and I’m thrilled to pass this torch to her.

Passing the torch of leadership to Lady Jeane Kilmeny for the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild

Below is the introduction of Kilmeny I gave the audience at University’s convocation yesterday. Many thanks to Mistress Adriana for allowing us time during the convocation to do this business.

Passing the Torch to Lady Jeane Kilmeny:

Bards are the foundation of Performing Arts in the SCA. Bards were the first ones to create space at SCA events for a person to take the stage and sing. Blossoming from the bardic foundation, many other performing arts have found space in the SCA: vocal, instrumental, solo, groups, theater: both scripted and improvised, commedia dell’ arte, storytelling, magic, sword dancing, and many more.

The Atlantia Performing Arts Guild provides informal structure for performing artists to network and find resources. That structure includes: an email list, roster, blog, and a Google drive for sharing tons of documents. (The facebook group “Bards and Performers of Atlantia was started by Lady Scholastica Joycours before the Guild was re-energized, so it’s not an official resource of the Guild, but that’s really splitting hairs. We’re all using the FB group to share and network.)

This Guild was started by Master Corun McAndra in 2002 with a royal charter and an email list on Yahoogroups. In 2015, with Corun’s blessing, Her Majesty Adelhait allowed me permission to re-energize the guild. Today, I pass the torch of leadership to an awesome new leader, Lady Jeane Kilmeny! <applause>

Kilmeny gets the job done with passion, accountability, and empathy. She works successfully with a wide variety of people, including special needs folks, and all the crazy wacky people all of us SCAdians are. She’s a mother of 2 and has been playing in the SCA for over 20 years. She pays attention to individual needs and balances them with the needs of the community making the SCA experience better for all of us.

She is reliable, holds herself accountable, and has a mischievous sense of humor.

At University alone, she started taking classes in 1994. She started teaching here in 2002. She has served many times as Autocrat, Nastycrat, Children’s Activities Coordinator, Performing Arts Coordinator, she’s fought heavy weapons, she sings, and she can teach you a ton about Irish culture!

Lady Jeane Kilmeny now has the torch!

My lords and ladies, I give you the new Guildmistress of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild, Lady Jean Kilmeny! <the crowd goes wild!>

Group hug!

All photos here were taken by Andrea Nichols and used here with her permission. Thanks Andrea!! <3