Atlantia’s Twelfth Night event is again overflowing with amazing opportunities to enjoy the Performing Arts!

The Magnificent Lady Jeane Kilmeny has organized an embarrassment of riches for both performers looking to perform and audience looking to relax and be entertained.  If you have questions, please contact Lady Kilmeny via facebook by posting on the Atlantia Bards and Performers group at this link:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/BardsandPerformers/  If you wish to post a comment on this blog post, your question will be forwarded to Kilmeny.

The reveling begins this Friday night!

• Friday night bardic circle: starting 8:00pm in the Hunt Room

• Saturday Wandering Minstrels schedule/sign up sheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1a6nQC-aYbVhdnvZyIozoMlHHfU3I15kZO00jLTzZWFo/edit?usp=sharing

• Shakespeare Performance of selected scenes from Twelfth Night by i Firenzi: 11:30-12:30
• Commedia Performance of “The Mystery of the Doge’s Swan” by i Firenzi at 4:15pm

• Dance Band Rehearsal:

• Dance Classes:

1. Gathering Peascods
2. Gracca Amoroso
3. New Yer
4. Rawty
5. Grene Gynger

• Royal Bard Competition: 

• Dancing, Main Hall, after Feast (hopefully starting ~7:00pm)

• An evening bardic circle will be held on Saturday night in the Amphitheatre, hosted by Mistress Dervila, starting at 8:00pm

The Performing Arts community achieved new heights at this year’s Twelfth Night event in the Barony of Sacred Stone! Peruse the pictures below and watch out for these gentles in the coming months if you want to come join in the fun!
1) European Dance! Sacred Stone’s own Lady Elizabeth of Northumberland led the dancing with excellent teamwork and support from Lady Nicolosa d’ Isenfir, our Royal Player in Dance. These two ladies brought dance education and graceful leadership to the event such that over 50 people got to enjoy the noble art of dance at the evening ball.

2) The dancing was supported by skillful and joyful efforts of Mistress Azza and the pick-up dance band under her direction! Ten instrumentalists followed Azza’s fearless direction and organization to produce high energy, live dance music deep into the night. Mistress Azza also serves as a Royal Player and will be producing live pickup bands at more events in the future. Watch for her at Ymir!

3) Our Royal Player in Theater, Lady Meriorie Matheson, produced an enlightening competition for actors to present their favorite Shakespeare pieces! Nine actors presented a wide variety of scenes from The Bard. The winner of the competition was a pair of amazing actors, Lady Machteld Cleine and an SCA newcomer, Cody, portraying Benedict and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing. See the video clip of their scene here:  https://www.facebook.com/Lara.Coutinho.Orange/videos/1877274525623126/?l=6072083277919904046

It’s one of the most excellent pieces of theater I’ve seen at an SCA event in years! These still pics are of some of the other excellent monologues.

4) One of Sacred Stone’s multi-talented performers, Lord Akiyama Kazuhiko, took on the great challenge of producing the Twelfth Night Murder Mystery play… and it was a hoot! The cast was talented and engaging as they kept us laughing and guessing at the causes of sudden death all day.

5) The Royal Bard competition proceeded per tradition at Twelfth Night with a long list of talented participants. Royal Bards for 2016, Lord Gideon ap Stephan and Master Ruaidhri an Cu, presented three brilliant performers to Their Majesties for the final competition during feast that night. Despite the most extremely challenging conditions of noise and interruptions in the feast hall, all three competitors, Lord Hakon Erfikvaethiskald, Harper an Cu, and Lord Richard Wyn, proved worthy of the position. The young lady Harper An Cu finished the evening with the title of Royal Bard!

6) The Rotunda, the circular area between the staircase and hall of art, hosted a non-stop stream of performers bringing music to the people throughout the day. Performers in the Rotunda included: Lord Johann von Solothurn, Cornelia Caeciliana, Baroness Margaret Cochrane, Baroness Morgan Wolfsinger, and the amazingly talented instrumental group Lillies Among Thorns!

7) The lunchtime tavern also brought some musical thrills when “Painted Wheel” band took the stage and kept the lunch patrons entertained!

8) Laughter brought the event to new heights with i Firenzi’s performance of Italian, 16th Century, improvised comic Commedia dell’ Arte in the afternoon’s play “Arlecchino of La Mancha!” The premier of this play included many new commedia actors enjoying their first performance. We were blessed by the presence and service of a silent herald who interpreted the whole improvised show into sign language! A special moment was also brought to us when the final scene was interrupted (with permission of the director) by Their Excellencies of Windmasters’ Hill bringing an award to one of our actors in the name of TRMs. Lord Jaume de Monco was honored with an Award of the Coral Branch for his many artistic talents including acting, stage magic, bardic performance, and brewing. See the video of the whole play and Jaume’s honoring here:  https://youtu.be/MKedlRJ-VwQ

Twelfth Night again brought too much fun to cram into one day! Many thanks to the event’s Autocrat, Baroness Caitlin Macdonoughue for her tireless efforts at organizing and providing event space for the Performing Arts Community to enjoy their arts!

Performing Arts Schedule for Twelfth Night is here!

The holiday season brings a joyous occasion for our kingdom to gather in friendship and celebration of our many blessings! Many of us will enjoy the kingdom’s Twelfth Night event on January 14th, 2017 in Greensboro, NC: http://www.twelfthnight.atlantia.sca.org/

Performers and those who enjoy being an audience will revel in an embarrassment of riches at Twelfth Night! See the schedule of Performing Arts Activities below, and don’t hesitate to contact the Performing Arts Coordinator, Lady Sophia the Orange via orangesophie AT gmail DOT com for more information.

By Lady Sophia the Orange

You never really know what’s going to happen at Pennsic until it does. A lot gets planned, and a lot happens, and the overlap is always an amusing gamble in the end. So here’s some of what really happened in the Performing Arts arena by the time Pennsic 44 was over:

Most performances did get produced according to plan as laid out in this blog post before Pennsic: https://perform.atlantia.sca.org/?p=152 .

Upon arrival at Pennsic, the staff discovered a significant infestation of hornets throughout the Amphitheater requiring a move of all Peace Week activities from the Amphitheater to the Great Hall.  However, reports of our own Lord Richard Wynn’s first solo concert and Lady Scholastica’s Shakespeare Open Mike Night in that space were outstandingly positive!  The commedia dell’ arte rehearsals in that space also found it excellent, so the hornet issue did not get in the way of our fun during Peace Week!

Lord Manus MacDhai and I did perform as planned in i Verdi Confusi’s Saturday night commedia dell’ arte play, but what was not planned was the autographing scene where I experienced a “Pennsic First” of autographing a man’s chest. Tis the joy of improv!

Another commedia thrill that was unplanned was a visit from His Majesty Stephan, the King of Lochac! This gentleman is also a Laurel in the art of Theater, and he enjoyed a day with us in the Iron Commedia session #1 on Friday of Peace Week!  He played Pantalone in the play conceived and produced in one afternoon, and you can see a tiny bit of the production here: https://www.facebook.com/Lara.Coutinho.Orange/videos/vob.100000217895334/1321810187836232/?type=2&theater

 King Stephan of Lochac playing Pantalone with the Iron Commedia cast of Iron Commedia Session #1 of Pennsic 44!

Another surprise from the commedia track came when Isabella the Pirate Queen, also serving as the Assistant Director of the Pennsic Commedia All Stars Troupe, broke her arm during the first 5 minutes rehearsing with her new band of pirates. Twenty volunteer pirates were given three days with the Assistant Director to create, learn, and rehearse their parts for the big Thursday night commedia show, but their fearless leader fell prey to the deep, hard mud ruts in the ground around the Amphitheater left after the last rock music event at Cooper’s Lake Campground by tripping over a rut and falling on her wrist. Crazy Pennsic luck being what it is, the Pennsic Commedia All Stars cast happened to include a blacksmithing Laurel who had a working forge back at camp, so the next rehearsal included a custom made hook for our Pirate Queen. Her final costume included a custom ladies’ pirate hook, personalized eye patch, borrowed ducal coronet, and spiffy red Italian gown. Best looking Pirate Queen Pennsic’s ever seen!

 Isabella the Pirate Queen with patch, coronet, and custom hook!

Master Efenwealt and Mistress Dervila did, in fact, produce their retelling of the legendary tale “Love Will Return; The Story of Heloise & Abelard” with the new sources and 100+ letters Dervila discovered. What we didn’t know ahead of time was how the various skills of Maîtresse Aénor d’Anjou would add to the beauty of the presentation and how support of indigogo supporters can make a simple Pennsic performance last forever. Watch for the crowdfunded DVD that includes footage from this performance to launch next summer.

Our own Lord Yakov did adjust to unexpected changes in his modern employment schedule and change his originally scheduled performance into a private camp bardic performance that had not been promoted enough for the amazing brilliance it ended up being! About 25 people got to witness Yakov’s telling of a reconstruction of a period collection of stories called “Sefer Hashashuim” (“The Book of Delights”) written by the Jewish physician Joseph Zabara in Seville in about 1200. The collection was originally written in poetic form, with a framing story providing a nested “story-within-a-story” structure similar to that of the Arabian Nights. In reconstructing the collection as a performance, he eliminated the poetic form and somewhat edited and restructured the story to enhance performability. For this reason, it is a reconstruction and re-editing and not an actual translation. This beautiful performance was enjoyed by a small group of lucky Pennsic campers who got the message about rescheduling, and hopefully, Yakov will be able to share it again back home in Atlantia for the rest of us.

And it was not a surprise at all that our dear friend, Margherita Battistina, was successfully elevated to the Order of the Laurel for her accomplishments in the art of European Dance as predicted and planned.  The vigil was lovely, and I enjoyed jumping in at the end, thanks to the efforts of many including Master Solvar, Lady Marion the Red, Baron Lorenzo, Master Stephan, and Lady Evelynn. The elevation ceremony in the dance tent was attended by a magnificent inter-kingdom dance community that testifies to Margherita’s great positive impact on a great many lovers of dance.

  Mistress Margherita, the first Atlantia recognized Dance Laurel in 16 years!

A final big surprise on the final Friday of Pennsic, for the final show, the Known World Players enjoyed the thrill of seeing the electric power to Cooper’s Lake Campground go out half an hour before their 8:00pm production of the Merchant of Venice. Seeing the sun set and leaving the stage in darkness, but never questioning the dedication to “The Show Must Go On!”, the KWP troupe, Pennsic Performing Arts staff, and various supporters moved the entire production out into the courtyard and established portable lighting. A combination of tiki torches, a single propane torch, and Manus MacDhai’s camp lantern footlights normally used at the Amphitheater created enough light in the right places for the actors to be seen. The instant teamwork brought to life a magical Shakespeare environment that became beautiful and memorable for all.

 Known World Players producing Merchant of Venice with torchlight and camp lantern footlights.

So, if you missed Pennsic, or if you missed the many Atlantians performing beautiful, funny, and impressive works of art at Pennsic, find them here at home and ask them for a repeat performance!

–Lady Sophia the Orange, Co-Track-Lead for Commedia, Foolery, and Physical Theater at Pennsic Performing Arts, Pennsic University, Pennsic 44 and  Atlantia MOAS Deputy for Performing Arts

By Lady Scholastica Joycors

I started to come to Pennsic just five short years ago and taking classes at University was entertaining and educational but I found that classes in the bardic track were sparse. When THL Lorelei  Skye, the Pennsic University Dean of Performing Arts, asked me to take over the bardic track I thought this would be a good opportunity to increase classes in all three areas of bardic; poetry, storytelling and music and thanks to the many people who heard my call for teachers we have a full track this year.  There for a while I didn’t think it would happen so few people responded but in the last few days of charting all the classes our bucket was overflowing and we were scrambling to find places to put everyone.  Classes begin on Wednesday, July 29 and there is a class/rehearsals going on every hour from 10 AM till 5 every day, which breaks down to 275 spaces filled in performing arts, 60 different bardic classes, in 6 locations. Classes are held in the Performing Arts Tent (PAT), Amphitheatre (AMPI), Practice Arts Performance Tent, Classroom AS9 along with a couple other classrooms and the battlefield. Can you just say Huzzah!

For the definitive description of all the classes, times and places check out these links:

You can sign onto Thing and download a copy of all the classes with descriptions or you can look at the Google Calendars that Lorelei Skye created that you can download to your phone, https://sites.google.com/site/pennsicbbdbbn/calendar

There are several places you can go to get complete descriptions, times and dates. For performances:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Sd2ToAXllciJVKKdU1q0Fr3ropUbBSe-0CoMXaF20JY/edit#gid=0

or

http://www.pennsicwar.org/penn44/DEPTS/PERFARTS/perfschedule.html

Atlantia has stepped up and several of her bards are showcasing this year:

Pennsic Choir has several of our lofty voices who have been practicing all year just to soothe our souls with their musicality. See the performance on Thursday 8/6 at 6:30pm in the Performing Arts Tent.

Richard Wyn: Thursday 7/30 at 7:30 in the Amphitheatre presents ‘A Bardic in Minature’

Efenwealt Wystle: Sunday 8/2 at 8:00pm in the Performing Arts Tent hold his traditional concert with Mistress Aenor & Monday 8/3 at 6:30pm in the Amphitheatre presents ‘Comedy Music’

Sophia the Orange (who co-runs the Commedia Track): Wednesday 8/5 at 7:00pm presents Iron Commedia

Dervila ni Leanon & Efenwealt Wystle: Tuesday 8/4 in the Performing Arts Tent present ‘Love Will Return – The Story of Heloise & Abelard’

Dervila ni Leanon: Friday 8/7 in the Performing Arts Tent presents ‘A Cycle of Norse Myths’

And don’t forget the Atlantia Bardic Circle on Wednesday 8/5 from 7:00 – 9:00 in Atlantia Royal Camp led by our own Kingdom Bard, Johann von Solothurn!

I could go on and on about all the great Bardic things going on at Pennsic like all the bardic circles that can be found every night (check out the Bards by Day/Bards by Night book kept at the Mystic Mall) and don’t forget the Bardic Expo on Monday afternoon or the Storytelling Expo on Thursday afternoon…wait, wait there is also the Practice Safe Bardic Safe Practice (which used to be called “The Peerless Bardic Circle”) on Saturday or Bardic Madness or Shakespeare on the Green or the Sing We and Chant It Madrigal Jam. Needless to say there are a plethora of classes, performances, and opportunities to perform so that when you leave Pennsic you will leave with your bardic mug filled to overflowing.

Yours in Story and Song,

Lady Scholastica Joycors

It’s finally ready!  Here it is!  The Kingdom of Atlantia finally has a blog for helping those of the populace who are interested in performing arts to keep up to date and collaborate!

Atlantians can subscribe to this blog via email or RSS to get announcements about performing arts happening in our fair kingdom.  If you are interested in being a Guest Blogger, please do send what you want to post to the administrator, Sophia the Orange, at dmoas-performance AT atlantia.sca.org and include any deadlines or events associated with the content.

Please be sure to see the Social Media Communities tab for the other many ways you can stay in touch online!

Do not hesitate to make a suggestion or ask for information by emailing Sophia at dmoas-performance AT atlantia.sca.org or leaving a comment on a blog post.  This blog will continually change and adjust to the needs of the ever changing performing community of Atlantia.  Let me know what you want to see here, and I’ll do my best to get it up here.

Thank you for your continued attention, and keep watching!

Sincerely yours,

Lady Sophia the Orange

Atlantia Kingdom Deputy Minister of Arts and Sciences for Performing Arts