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.

This Saturday, December 3, 2016 at Unevent, anyone who wants to participate remotely in the Performing Arts Guild meeting at 4:30 can do so via the Zoom.us conference call now set up. You can log into a Zoom.us conference call to participate in this meeting remotely! You can log in from your computer and use your web-cam to share your face, or not if you choose, AND you can also call in with a regular phone to enjoy audio-only participation!
Please see the log in info below and let Lara Coutinho/Sophia the Orange know if you have any tech problems!

Agenda will include and is not limited to the following topics (Just let Sophia know if you want to add topics to the agenda!):
— Sharing files and resources via the Guild’s Google Drive
— Update on the Royal Players program
— Administrative separation of the Performing Arts Guild from the Kingdom MOAS Office
— Royal Bard competition at 12th Night – January 14, 2017
— Winter University Performing Arts tracks getting organized (deadline is December 19th!)
— Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival (March 4) Performing Arts program – lots of performing opportunities!

— Other performing opportunities at events: Ymir, Gulf Wars, Gemutlichplatz

To add your own topics to this agenda, you can add a comment to this blog post or email orangesophie AT gmail.
Performing Arts Guild of Atlantia UNEVENT meeting 3 DEC 16 Zoom.us log in info below
Time: Dec 3, 2016 4:30 PM (GMT-5:00) Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/253621368
Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +14086380968,253621368# or +16465588656,253621368#
Or Telephone:
Dial: +1 408 638 0968 (US Toll) or +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll)
Meeting ID: 253 621 368

Unevent 2016 Schedule

The Atlantia Performing Arts Guild held a meeting at the Tournament of Ymir in the Barony of Windmasters’ Hill on February 27, 2016 from 11:00 – 12:00am in the Great Hall.

Attendees included:

• Lady Evelynne Merrymet
• Mistress Azza al Shirazi
• Aplin ap Daffyd
• Mistress Dervila Ni Leanon
• Mistress Rosalind Jehanne
• Eoin MacEadbhaird
• Lady Sophia the Orange

Topics covered included:

1. Ongoing Projects:

   1. Bardic Circles Best Practices – lead by Lord Johann von Solothurn and Lord Richard Wyn
   2. Performing Arts Competitions Best Practices – lead by Lady Scholastica Joycours and milady Reynsa Keyferin
   3. Troubleshooting group – lead by our two Kingdom Bards, Master Ruaidhri an Cu and Lord Gideon ap Stephen
   4. Online Resources for Sharing:  This one went into some detail….
      1. We have the Atlantia Performing Arts Blog here: https://perform.atlantia.sca.org/
         1. This includes a page for handy links to bardic and other performing resources recently re-organized by our friend Catarina di Paulo / Shannon Hamilton.
         2. This includes pages for: Kingdom Noteables, Performer’s Directory, Performing Groups, a separate page for the Guild, and more tidbits.
      2. Mistress Dervila is working on creating a library on this blog. It’s built with WordPress, so it’s really a Content Management System – one that Dervila has some experience with.
      3. While Dervila is working on that library, we will use a new Google Drive shared with the Google Group email list for the Guild. That means that if you’re email address is on the Google Group email list for the Guild, you have access to that shared drive on Google Drive.
         1. This allows us to share documents and resources immediately and,
         2. this allows us to see what files people want to share and what categories they settle out into before Dervila launches the new library. The categories we actually end up using over the next few months will be the ones we start with in the new library.
         3. The link for the Google Drive is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-ta6p8JkuHPOVc0Tk0tellxcEU
         4. The link for the Google Group email list is here (if you’re not already on it):  https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/atlantiaperformingartsguild 
   5. Guild jobs
      1. The position of University of Atlantia Liaison for the Guild is being shared this year between Lady Machteld Cleine and Lord Jaume de Monco.  Machteld will handle organizing classes for Performing Arts for the Summer University session and Jaume will handle organizing classes for the Fall University session.
         1. When you’re ready to submit your classes for Summer University, please send email to Machteld first. She’s going to ensure that certain basic performing skills classes get taught for sure and that other classes for certain audiences don’t conflict (like having two commedia classes in the same hour slot). Jaume will follow in the Fall.
      2. Mistress Dervila is holding the position of our Librarian, but she and I can both use some help from folks who are savvy to Google and WordPress resources.
         1. Lord Kazuhiko and Harper an Cu both volunteered to pitch in on that after this Spring semester is over.
         2. More help is welcome!
      3. I’m still looking for a Point of Contact for every single SCA group in Atlantia. Some groups have a “Bardic Champion” or “Performing Arts Champion” but most don’t.  If you’re willing to step up as a Point of Contact for your local SCA group as the “person who knows something about Performing Arts and maybe how to get ahold of that crazy Guild”, please let me know!

2. New Projects

   1. Lady Teleri the Well Prepared has started working with our very music-friendly Princess of Atlantia as a “Royal Entertainment Coordinator.” (That’s a draft job title.)  I did this job for Amos and Isabella during their reign, and it was rather successful at creating more performing arts activities at Royal Progress events.  Since there is a great deal of administrative legwork involved in creating Performing Arts activities that work seamlessly and smoothly with Royal Progress events, having a person on the Royal Staff that handles all that email and planning ahead is extremely helpful.
      1. We all predict that our two Kingdom Bards and Teleri will all work as a team when the opportunity presents itself to make more and better Performing Arts opportunities happen at Royal Progress events.
   2. Dance Band Musicians
      1. Lady Evelynne Merrymet expressed a deep desire to have live musicians at dance practices.  Mistress Azza concurred with this given her deep enjoyment of playing live music for dancers.
         1. I strongly recommend using the Pennsic Pile sheet music if you’re a musician playing for dancing because the copyright in versions since Pennsic 42 have been cleared to allow for use at SCA events AND the sheet music is arranged for the correct repeat structure for all the dances as they’re danced at Pennsic.
         2. Other sheet music resources exist, but respect of copyright is important, so please check the copyright before you run sheet music through a copier.
         3. Get the Pennsic Pile in PDF download here:  http://pennsicdance.aands.org/pennsic44/PennsicPile44.pdf
   3. Pictures of Performers for the Roster
      1. Mistress Dervila has a method to create a page on the Performing Arts blog that can serve as a directory that INCLUDES PICTURES! This has been a technological struggle for me. I’ve set up text only rosters for folks to submit their data on what they perform and who they are, but I have not been able to easily create a roster with pictures. Now that Dervila has a way to do it, we can now fill our roster with pictures!
      2. Please be prepared to send in pictures once we find the best place to put them before Dervila’s ready with the new directory.
   4. Performing Arts Groups
      1. I need help fleshing out the content pages for Performing Arts Groups on the blog. I need help gathering info on the following groups:
         1. Ladies Fair singing group
         2. Ponte Alto Singers
         3. PAGE
      2. If anyone’s willing to write up a blog post on any one of these groups, or any MORE groups you’re aware of – please let me know!!
   5. Guild Heraldry and Online Graphics help needed
      1. The Kingdom MOAS wants us to nail down some heraldry for the Guild. We also need some better graphics for the blog.
      2. Eoin Mac Edhbaird volunteered to help in this, and if there are other herald & graphics folks interested in helping, please pipe up! We may need a committee for this.

The next meeting of the Guild is TBD. It will be after Gulf Wars for sure!!

Thank you all for pitching in to the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild!

–Lady Sophia the Orange, Guildmistress and Kingdom MOAS Deputy for Performing Arts

The next Atlantia Performing Arts Guild Meeting & Conference Call will be held at Atlantia University on February 6, 2016 from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. This is during the lunch time of Atlantia University, and the members gathered at University will get lunch and find a quiet corner to eat lunch and gather around Sophie’s laptop to share the web cam and conference call using the Zoom.com online conference room.  Please join us using the log in information below.  You can also call in from a regular phone with the phone number below:

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/638392316

Or iPhone one-tap: 14086380968,638392316# or 16465588656,638392316#

Or Telephone:
Dial: +1 408 638 0968 (US Toll) or +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll)
Meeting ID: 638 392 316

The Meeting will include discussion on the following topics:

Status Update of Ongoing Projects:

1. Creation of Best Practices list for Bardic Circles by Johann and Richard
2. Creation of Best Practices list for Competitions by Scholastica and Reynsa
3. use of the Googlegroup is growing constantly!
4. Reaching out to specific people to join the Googlegroup for networking – especially to help the Kingdom Bards!

Status of recruiting:

1. The two new Kingdom Bards, Master Ruaidhri and Lord Gideon are still figuring out their strategy
2. Lady Machteld is thinking about volunteering to be the liaison for Atlantia University for Summer, but we need someone for long term.
3. Mistress Dervila has accepted the position for Librarian! She will work with our WordPress blog to find the right plugin to allow people to upload documents and other files like MP3s to share and keep organized. This will, however, take some many months, so Sophie is going to establish a simple Google Shared Drive as an interim solution.

Special Projects:

• Royal Travel Fund song writing service for Ymir silent auction
• Ladies of the Rose song, poetry, and other performance event for new, Golden Rose inspired event
• We need heraldry for the Guild – and a graphic for it!
• Performing Arts Demo Hour at Kingdom A&S Fest, March 5!

Next Guild Meeting is at Ymir, February 27, at 11:00am, immediately after morning court.  Zoom/call in option will be available!

The competition to select the next Kingdom Bard will take place at the Kingdom Twelfth Night event on January 9, 2016. The letter below was published by our current Kingdom Bard, the Magnificent Lord Johann von Solothurn. Make note that anyone wishing to compete for the position of Kingdom Bard must submit a letter of intent to Lord Johann, and his deadline was published as December 18th.  If you are considering competing, have not yet submitted a letter of intent, and would like to have more time to consider taking on this significant position, please email Lord Johann to express your concern and he might extend the deadline.  (Keeping the bar as high as he and Lady Scholastica have raised it is a task worthy of some other magnificent performers in our Kingdom, and worth taking serious time to consider.)

Please read and make note of Lord Johann’s email address and directions below, and Bona Fortuna to any performers ready to step up and compete for this position!

Lady Sophia the Orange, Kingdom MOAS Deputy for Performing Arts

Letter text from Lord Johann von Solothurn:

If you know of Performing Arts activities happening at events other than these in the next 2-3 months, type them into the comments, or email me at dmoas-performance AT atlantia.sca.org – Lady Sophia the Orange.

December 5 – Unevent, Barony of Caer Mear – Meeting of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild at 4:30pm   (https://sites.google.com/site/atlantiaunevent2015/)

December 12 – Caer Mear Yule – From Lady Kilmeny: “We will be performing in a larger group and smaller groups. Focus is on period Christmas music drawn largely from a collection created and generously shared by Mistress Rosalind Jehanne a few years back. I’m just the facilitator, as my barony has tons of great singers and they asked to have chances to perform at our SCA family potluck. A piece may even be performed in baronial court that afternoon. I’m holding 2 classes at our baronial A&S before the event so we can practice as a group and identify smaller groupings for the scattered performances.”  (http://caermear.atlantia.sca.org/home.html)

January 8-10 — Kingdom Twelfth Night, Barony of Nottinghill Coill  – including the competition for the next Kingdom Bard, run by our current Kingdom Bard, Lord Johann von Solothurn.  Letters of intent need to be sent to Johann by December 18^th via RoyalBard@atlantia.sca.org (http://atlantia.sca.org/137-events/167-event-flyer?event_id=7b71b57c)

January 23 – Ice Castles, Black Diamond – Bardic Circle by Johann von Solothurn, Former Kingdom Bard  (http://blackdiamond.atlantia.sca.org/icecastle/)

January 23 – Torquemada’s Trans-Iberian Winter Tour, Lochmere – A little Bardic Madness shall be run by Lady Scholastica with at least one round of ‘pun’ishment which could result in vegetables being thrown and possibly a cat of nine tails.  Some random inquisitions may also happen…  (http://atlantia.sca.org/137-events/167-event-flyer?event_id=de23671a)

February 6 – Atlantia University, Raven’s Cove – Lots of Performing Arts classes!!!!  (http://university.atlantia.sca.org/index.php)

February 26-28 – Tournament of YMIR, Windmasters’ Hill – Morning Meeting of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild, Afternoon Bardic Circle, Afternoon Bardic Competition, Pre-Court Commedia dell’ Arte play by i Firenzi, Evening Dancing, After-Feast-Reprise-performance of the Adults-Only Commedia play from War of the Wings by i Firenzi, Late Night Bardic Circle   (http://ymir.windmastershill.org/)

Most of what was planned for War of the Wings 2015 did happen and get produced as planned which was posted in the other 4 blog posts laying out the plan for the Performing Arts Program at War of the Wings 2015:

WOW Performing Arts 1 of 4 , WOW Performing Arts 2 of 4, WOW Performing Arts 3 of 4, WOW Performing Arts 4 of 4,  but as we all know…nothing ever goes quite as we planned it…

Friday started with a great kickoff of a new method for creating a European Dance Pick Up Band! We used sheet music from the Pennsic Pile, Milady Reynse Kyferin from Nottinghill Coil led the band, and volunteer musicians from all over the kingdom came to the castle to rehearse at noon on Friday and Saturday. They provided music for the European dancing on both Friday and Saturday nights!  Here is a picture of some of the volunteer musicians:

The pick up band for Middle Eastern dancing led by Mistress Azza that played on Saturday night was also a great success!

On Friday, we did hold a great class in Improvisation Skills followed by a laughter filled “Who’s Line Doth It Be Anyway” show! Here are a few pictures from that show:

After “Who’s Line” we held an Unbelted Bardic Tournament. The “unbelted” part was a challenge to any Peer who wanted to participate… any Peer needed to bring a *partner* to perform with who was not also a Peer. The one taker we had on this challenge was Mistress Dervila who partnered with her husband Tom the Drumbuilder in the telling of stories.  The winner of the tournament was Baroness Morgan Wolfsinger of Black Diamond!

Here’s one pic from that tournament:

Friday evening, many performances occurred.  The Bardic Smackdown War Point Competition happened.  There was no light nor heat nor clear direction provided, but once Mistress Dervila stepped in to instill some guidance on the chaos, ten performers did provide their best performances in contribution to the War effort.  The performers that braved the cold and chaos of war were these brave souls:

North:

• Baroness Morgan Wolfsinger of Black Diamond
• Lord Johann von Solothurn of Black Diamond
• Mistress Dervila of Hawkwood
• milady Fennic du Blayz of Black Diamond
• milady Rosheen from Highland Foorde

South:

• Lady Morgaine of Hidden Mountain
• milady Reynsa Keyferin of Nottinghil Coil
• milady Albree of Nottinghil Coil
• Lady Isabella Arabella Daughter of Hidden Mountain
• THLady Jorunn nic Lochlainn of Hidden Mountain

The South side won the war point.

Also preparing for war on Friday night were the Rabble Rousers and Bawdy Bardic singers warming up the Adults Only crowd for the eventual Naughty Commedia Show of i Firenzi.

Rabble Rousers for Black Diamond were led by our Kingdom Bard, Lord Johann von Solothurn, and Rabble Rousers for Nottinghill Coil were led by the ever-innocent Lady Machteld Cleine.  Milady Ky led the Bawdy bardic singing until i Firenzi was ready with the very silly, adults only, commedia dell’ arte play “The Issues Of One’s Loins” which had special guest star appearances by Master Efenwealt Wystle and also His Majesty Christophe of Atlantia!

Here is the one picture allowed to be published from the i Firenzi play:

Saturday saw a cascade of successful plans come to fruition!  All the classes, rehearsals and performances ran as planned including: a European dance class, meeting of the Atlantia Performing Arts Guild, Intro to Commedia dell’ Arte class, Iron Commedia rehearsal, Bardic Madness class & performance, Bardic 101 & 102 class, Research for Performers class, and the Iron Commedia performance before court!  Here’s a rarely seen before and after set of pictures of the novice commedia student cast before and after the Iron Commedia show:

Before:   After: 

Saturday night, there was a competition held for the Baronial Bardic Champions from all the baronies of Atlantia that was supposed to be followed by a lovely concert with performance slots for both a handful of pre-scheduled experienced performers and also open slots for whoever wanted to come join in the fun.  As it turned out, we did not have use of the Vingulf Hall, so we were out in the open air experiencing the very cold wind that night.  We did bring with us one fire bowl and the camp-lantern footlights we use at Pennsic, so we had a little light and heat. The following brave souls huddled around the fire bowl kept their promises to compete for the honor of their home baronies:

1. Baroness Morgan Wolfsinger – Baronial Bardic Champion of the Barony of Black Diamond (Who won the Unbelted Bardic Tourney on Friday!)
2. Lady Thamira HaSopheret- Baronial Bardic Champion of our hosting Barony of Sacred Stone
3. Lord Jaume de Monçó (Craig B. Daniel) – Baronial Performing Arts Champion of the Barony of Windmasters’ Hill
4. Lady Morgaine Ferguson (Ivy Pandora) – Baronial Bardic Champion of the Barony of Hidden Mountain
5. milady Reynsa Keyferin – Baronial Bardic Co-Champion of the Barony of Notinghil Coil (also Director of the WoW European Pick Up Dance Band!)
6. Lady Deirdre O’Bardon – filling in for the Baronial Bardic Champion of the Barony of Bright Hills
7. Lady Scholastica Joycors (Mylinda Butterworth) – Baronial Bardic Champion of the Barony of Lochmere

Many thanks to those who braved the cold to witness and provide an audience for these dedicated and loyal Baronial Champions! That includes a few performers who had committed to perform in our “Bards and Brewers Concert” which turned out to be a cozy circle of dedicated bards including Master Scott Efenwealt Vaughan and Mistress Aenor (Kirsten Humdinger Vaughan), Lord Johann von Solothurn, Mistress Rosalind (Jonna Bernstein), and my ever supportive baritone husband Manus MacDhai (Scott Dean) , AND Dervila Ni Leanon and Tom Drumbuilder!

Special thanks also to Their Excellencies of Windmasters Hill, Callixtus and Adriana, who did come brave the cold to witness the competition.

The winner of the Inter-Baronial Bardic Champions Competition on Saturday night at War of the Wings was Lord Jaume de Monçó, the Performing Arts Champion of the Barony of Windmasters’ Hill!  He performed an impressively smooth period magic trick of “Cups and Balls” and will share the research documentation of it by request.

Sorry, there are no pictures to share from Saturday night’s performances – it was WAAAAAY too cold and dark!

So watch this space for the next announcement for your opportunities to take part in Performing Arts in the Kingdom of Atlantia!

Have you ever seen performers having fun on stage and craved joining in? Well, now you can! And not just “throw them in and hope they float” Nononono….. We will actually *teach* you something before making you face the terrifying stares of an expectant audience! (WARNING: All shows at War of the Wings are BYOChair!  There will NOT be enough chairs for everyone, so BRING YOUR OWN CHAIR PLEASE!)  And don’t worry about the deadline to register for classes… just show up if you haven’t registered and we’ll make room for you! No class size limits on Performing Arts Classes!

Friday:

1) Who’s Line Doth It Be?   Improvisation Skills class and Show 1:00 – 3:00pm

Have you ever seen the TV show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” either the American version hosted by Drew Cary or the original on BBC? We’re going to run a mini-version of that show ourselves at WoW based on the version die hard performing arts geeks at Pennsic have been doing for many years.

But before that, a class will be taught in Improvisation Skills. You must take the class if you want to be in the show, but you can take the class and not perform in the show.  The class will run through six basic rules of improvisation that can help you in everyday conversation, living in persona at SCA events, better performance during SCA court schtick, and also performing improvised commedia dell’ arte. We will also learn the short form improv theater games that will serve as the structure of our Who’s Line Doth It Be Show.

Improvisation Skills Class runs from 1:00 – 2:00pm. Who’s Line Doth It Be show runs from 2:00 – 3:00pm.

2) European Dance Pick Up Band:  Rehearsal 12:00 – 3:00pm;  Performance 7:00 – 10:00pm (both Friday and Saturday)

Any and all musicians are welcome to join in a new kind of pick up band! To sign up, click here!

A lovely new professional music teacher and band director has joined the Barony of Nottinghill Coil a couple years ago and brings with her a passion for period music! Our new best friend,  milady Reynsa, will lead volunteer musicians through a rehearsal with Pennsic Pile sheet music from 12:00 noon to 3:00pm on Friday and Saturday to prep for playing for the balls on both Friday and Saturday nights starting at 7:00pm.  Click here for details including links to the sheet music, dance list, and recordings:   http://warofthewings.com/details/pick_up_band.html

3) Middle Eastern Dance:  Band Rehearsals Thursday – Saturday

Middle Eastern Dance Band will Rehearse on Thursday 2-3:00, Friday 3-4:00, and Saturday 2-3:00, then play for a Hofla dance party starting at 8:30pm Saturday night!

Three classes are also offered for learning middle eastern dance.

See the Dance page for details: http://warofthewings.com/details/dancing.html

Saturday:

1) European Dance: 10:00 – 11:00am

The ball on Friday night is a practice ball, so all the dances will be taught then, but more dances will be taught Saturday morning in this class (New Yere, Bel Fiore, Petite Vriens, and some bransles). The ball Saturday night will also have some teaching time.  For more details about learning and performing European dance, click here: http://warofthewings.com/details/dancing.html

2) Commedia dell’ Arte: Intro class and Iron Commedia show 12:00 noon – 5:00pm

Learn the basics of Commedia dell’ Arte, the Italian improvised comedy play style that was very popular throughout Europe in the 16^th century.  Intro to commedia class runs from 12:00 – 1:00pm.

Then whoever is ready for an intense creative thrill… we will run an Iron Commedia session from 1:00 to 4:00pm where we will write a commedia scenario based on who shows up and what characters people want to play. We will rehearse until 4:00, then we will put on our short play in the half hour before court as pre-court entertainment!  (Court starts at 5:00pm) Anyone who wants a part in the play gets one, but you have to have taken the Intro to Commedia class either that day or some other day to join in. Once we start writing the scenario at 1:00pm, the process takes off like a rocket!

3) Bardic Madness: Challenges and Performances  12:00 – 2:00pm

The Challenges put forth by Lady Scholastica Joycors, Kingdom Bard of 2014, are set forth as “Fyts of Madness” which will challenge bards to create material either ahead of time or in the moment.  Bards will then also have the opportunity to perform their material right there in the midst of madness!  Depending on how many participants show up, bards can exchange critique and improve on their works, discuss, challenge each other more, and let the madness lead them.

4) Bardic 101 & 102:  A class in all things Bardic 2:00 – 3:00pm

Lord Johann von Solothurn, the current Kingdom Bard, will help you get started in becoming a bard and/or help you take your bardic lifestyle to the next level based on who shows up to the class and what questions they bring.

5) Research for Performers:  A multi-purpose performers class 3:00 – 4:00pm

Lord Johann von Solothurn continues to spread the wisdom by offering resources for research for all kinds of performers.

6) Bards and Brewers Concert at the White Phoenix Inn – Starting at 9:00pm in Vingulf Hall

On Saturday evening, after you’ve had all this great instruction on performing all day Friday and Saturday, you can put it to good use if you signed up ahead of time to claim a 10 minute performing slot during the Saturday night concert!  Now, the Saturday night performances will begin with the Inter-Baronial Bardic Champions Competition starting at 9:00pm where those performers who have earned the honor of serving as their barony’s Champion in a performing art will compete for glory, honor, and spiffy prizes.  AFTER, the Champions have competed, the regular concert will commence with a lineup of performers who only had to sign up ahead of time.  Did you sign up ahead of time on the Google Form here?  If you miss signing up, you just move to the end of the line and a sign up sheet will be posted in Vingulf Hall so the organized concert can devolve into an all-night jam if performers show up who wish to share the space.

To sign up for a 10 minute performance slot in the Bards and Brewers Concert on Saturday night, click here!

The Kingdom’s Royal Brewer is leading his fellow brewers in gathering in the same space as the concert in Vingulf Hall on Saturday night starting at 9:00pm to share the fruits of their labor. So, no need to sign up, just bring your brewed creations to share!  Rumor has it that a special friend from the Barony of Windmasters’ Hill is also bringing a supply of Savory Toasted Cheese, so the evening will be full of brews, cheese, and song!

Stay tuned for two more blog posts covering the rest of the extensive Performing Arts Program at War of the Wings!  http://warofthewings.com/performing_arts.html 

Sincerely Yours,

Lady Sophia the Orange

War of the Wings, Deputy Village Steward for Performing Arts

Kingdom of Atlantia, Minister of Arts and Sciences, Deputy for Performing Arts

Capocomico, i Firenzi

Fan of Anything That Comes To Life On Stage!