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  • Dia de los Muertos Theater Favorite “Journey of the Skeletons” Returns to San Diego Former La Jolla Playhouse hit was the region’s first Día de Muertos theater comedy “Journey of the Skeletons,” the Dia de los Muertos comedy that started as a San Diego County educational project and became an international hit, is back. So is the cast of multicultural spirits, the Aztec god of death and one very testy underworld jaguar. “Journey of the Skeletons” will run Nov. 1 and 2 at The Chrysalis Theater in the Monarch Center for the Arts, 1805 Main Street in Logan Heights. Curtain is 7 p.m. The Chrysalis is a new 100-seat performing arts space built to support the Monarch School for homeless students and provide arts opportunities for the Logan Heights community. “It’s a great project and a cool space,” said director Hector Rivera. “This show remains a wonderful way to learn about the beautiful Dia de los Muertos holiday going back to its Aztec origins. It’s fun for the entire family.” Written by Southwestern College professor Dr. Max Branscomb, the playwright of “La Pastorela” for 33 years and the 47-year-old Bonitafest Melodrama, “Journey of the Skeletons” has been produced throughout California, Northern Mexico and at the Cultural Olympics in Sydney, Australia. It had a sold-out run in 2014 at the La Jolla Playhouse. It was commissioned in 1996 by the San Diego Council for Arts Education. “Journey of the Skeletons” is the story of Memo, a Latino angel who invites two Heavenly buddies – one White, one Black – to join him on his Dia de los Muertos journey to Earth to meet his familia and indulge in the offerings left on his altar. Along the way they encounter the Aztec god of death, Mictlantecuhtli (Luis Angel Prado), and his evil jaguar, Colmillos (Ella Aldridge), who threaten to lock them away for eternity in the underworld. Cagey Memo bets that the skeletons can trick the uber-competitive Mictlantecuhtli in a life-or-death game just as Quezalcoatl had eons earlier. “‘Skeletons’ is one of my fave shows and Hector directs it with a very nice touch,” Branscomb said. “It is an honor to produce it at the Monarch Center for the Arts. We’ve got an excellent cast of international actors who have come together to create a meaningful work of theater art for our community.” Branscomb said he has always loved Dia de los Muertos, but admitted he was nervous when approached to write a play about death rituals of America and the borderlands. “You know I write musical-comedies, verdad?” he recalled telling SDCAE staff. “But I was inspired by reading Octavio Paz and the Latino concept of laughing about death and celebrating it as an inevitable part of life. People in New Orleans and other parts of the world have similar customs, so the idea of multicultural angels came together nicely.” Rivera, Rhys Green and Joe Nogra play the angels/skeletons. Green performed in the La Jolla Playhouse production in 2014. Actor/writer Ella Aldridge, a 16-year-old junior at the San Diego School of the Creative and Performing Arts, said she learned much about the traditions of Dia de los Muertos playing Colmillos the jaguar. “It’s an ancient tradition and very heartfelt,” she said. “Making altars for loved ones is a lovely practice that came from Mexico and is now part of San Diego County culture. They are so beautiful and the belief that the love and caring that goes into them nourishes the spirits of ancestors is so powerful.” Tickets are $21 general admission, $15 for early birds, seniors, students, military and educators. Children 12 and under are $12. To purchase tickets call (619) 227-4686 or go to journeyoftheskeletons2024@gmail.com. Max Branscomb mbranscomb@swccd.edu drmaxbranscomb@outlook.com (October 29 – November 4) (619) 997-9054 Ella Aldridge (619) 931-4751 egrace0052@gmail.com
  • Dance that Evokes Passion and Sparks the Soul. Lovely and lyrical. Compelling and heartbreaking. SDB’s production’s of "Romeo et Juliet" has been moving San Diego audiences for the past decade. A rapturous evening devoted to young love and to those who remember its triumphs and tragedies. Artistic Director Javier Velasco’s re-staging of Shakespeare’s masterpiece is a lush, yet intimate rumination that focuses on the inner desires of the most famous star-crossed lovers of all time. Visit: https://sandiegoballet.org/romeo-et-juliet/ San Diego Ballet on Facebook / Instagram
  • The new books publishing this week may get quite heavy, laden as they are with family tragedy, psychopathy and heartbreak — but at least they are fiction.
  • Tanya Aguiñiga is the 2024 Longenecker-Roth Artist in Residence at the Department of Visual Arts, UC San Diego. Tanya Aguiñiga was born in 1978 in San Diego, California, and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. An artist and craftsperson, Aguiñiga works with traditional craft materials like natural fibers and collaborates with other artists and activists to create sculptures, installations, performances, and community-based art projects. Drawing on her upbringing as a binational citizen, who crossed the border daily from Tijuana to San Diego for school, Aguiñiga’s work speaks of the artist’s experience of her divided identity and aspires to tell the larger and often invisible stories of the transnational community. She founded AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides), an ongoing series of projects that provides a platform for binational artists. She was recently awarded the Latinx Art Forum: Latinx Artist Fellowship (2022), Heinz Award (2021), and an Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities (2018). Her work is in the collection of the Hammer Museum, LACMA, Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt and Renwick Museums, and the Museum of Art and Design among others. Visit: https://visarts.ucsd.edu/news-events/20241101_tanyaaguiniga.html Tanya Aguiñiga on Instagram and Facebook
  • The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego is hosting its 4th Annual Arts and Culture Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, from noon to 3 p.m. This free event will feature a variety of live performances, including music from band ensembles, singers, dancers, actors and poets. Attendees will enjoy a vibrant showcase of Torero talent, with refreshments provided throughout the event. Reserve your spot today!
  • President Trump said he was ending "immediately" the Secret Service protection details assigned to Democrat Joe Biden's adult children.
  • It's a great day when your favorite artist releases a new record. But what if they released seven new records at once, full of music you didn't even know existed? That's what Bruce Springsteen is doing on his forthcoming box set Tracks II: The Lost Albums.
  • J Balvin is the stage name of José Álvaro Osorio Balvin. From a very young age he showed his interest and fondness for music, and in 1999 at the age of 14 he found the musical genre of Hip Hop, marking it in such a way that he decided to incorporate it into his life and begin his musical process, which was later joined by reggaeton and R&B. These are different genres, but they have something in common, which is the expression of feeling, of the day to day, of street life, as J Balvin affirms. Being in this process of various musical sources, J Balvin decided in 2002, to turn into the musical world definitively leaving everything behind. His artistic talent is recognized in Medellín for his fluency in interpreting any genre, and this can be affirmed by anyone who has listened to him. This singer with only 21 years of age has participated in Freestyle Championships, in which he obtained the recognition of champion for two consecutive years making it clear that music it’s his thing, and that Reggaeton and Hip Hop are his language. “I consider myself very versatile because I can interpret anything, that is, I measure myself against anything,” and he adds “talent is born with you and with practice you perfect.” Balvin began his musical career with the group MDL Crew. Today he is part of the "Universidad de La Calle", (an association of street artists) which in his opinion “is made up of the best Rap and Reggaeton groups in the city of Medellín. Another friend and colleague who helped him from his beginnings in MDL Crew, and with whom he still maintains a close friendship and working bond is Fat Al, a Colombian artist based in Miami, to whom he owes his stage name ̈ JBalvin ̈ In 2004, he recorded his first solo song, "Panas," a song that talks about friends; with which he ventures into the world of reggaeton. Today, he has 22 songs in total, ranging from his beginnings to the most recent of 2006, among which the following stand out; "Simple", and "La Playa". Throughout its evolutionary process, it emphasizes; that obviously there are certain leaders by whom an artist is guided to go far, but, he clarifies that he was strongly influenced by several American artists such as “Bone Thugs n Harmony”, “NAS”, “Mos def”, and Latin artists such as “Vico C”, “El General”, “Angel Lopez” and “Daddy Yankee”. J Balvin is more inclined towards the composition and interpretation of Reggaeton, since it allows very easy access to the Latin market. However, Rap is what he likes the most,” he clarifies. Balvin is a fresh, young and talented character who projects himself towards a future representative of Hip Hop and Reggaeton, “No one will do for you, what you don’t do for yourself”, is the clause that governs his life, in order to realize himself as an artist and as a person, and in this way get his family ahead and represent Colombia in the musical field. Visit: https://www.axs.com/events/738656/j-balvin-tickets?skin=pasd J Balvin on Instagram and Facebook
  • Presented by With Flying Colors, "Dreams Dyed Blue" is a spatialized electroacoustic/hip-hop audiovisual performance that explores the beauty, sadness, joy and loss of reaching toward a dream. This collaborative experience features visual contributions from Ben Guerrette, Mingyong Cheng, and LUX|LUMN, as well as musical contributions from Anita Chandavarkar, Natalia Merlano Gomez, David Aguila and Timothy “Ill Poetic” Gmeiner. Visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/with-flying-colors-presents-dreams-dyed-blue-journey-through-sound-color-tickets-1285651340769 With Flying Colors Official on Instagram
  • Celebrate the holiday and winter season around the world with the Palomar Concert Band. We will take you on a journey through a winter wonderland of dreamscapes. Visit: palomar.edu/palomarperforms/event/dreamscapes-directed-by-heather-barclay/
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