Tag: acting

A caffeinated San Diego Fringe Festival!

The multi-day 2023 San Diego Fringe Festival is now underway! Most of the very inventive Fringe performances can be enjoyed in Balboa Park, at either the Centro Cultural de la Raza or the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. For a list of the festival’s complete lineup, click here!

This afternoon I sat in the audience at a very unique performance. The Coffee Plays, in five theatrical acts (each concerning types of coffee from around the world) was a fun mixture of storytelling, music, singing, coffee history, and love for the drink.

At certain points during the performance, members of the audience got to sample each type of coffee, courtesy of Mr. Green’s Coffee Beans. The Dalgona, The Bunn, The Kona, The Sumatra, The Jamoke. Those watching, as they ingested caffeine, enjoyed additional stimulation provided by the talented actors!

Fringe performances are usually unusual and typically untypical. Small, intimate audiences enjoy the efforts of often little-known artists. The audience determines whether a production is successful or less-than-successful. (Fortunately, I didn’t see any bags of rotten tomatoes.) Those who buy a ticket can’t really go wrong, because each performance is less than an hour and only ten dollars.

The Coffee Plays was amusing, inventive, and brimming with delicious humor. It did seem to drag and ramble in a few places, as an amateur production might, but overall it was an enjoyable experience. The audience really drank it up!

The Coffee Plays was co-produced by San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre and Asian Story Theater.

Check out the San Diego Fringe Festival website here and see what creative craziness awaits!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Huge birds and fun at Without Walls Festival!

The big annual Without Walls Festival, presented by the La Jolla Playhouse in association with the San Diego Symphony, is taking place all this weekend at the Rady Shell!

Today after work I headed behind the San Diego Convention Center to Embarcadero Marina Park South where very unique outdoor performances and activities could be freely enjoyed!

I saw many families and theatre lovers enjoying music, food, and of course, the intriguing productions.

One play involves the actual recreational vehicle used by an actress during COVID, and her strong experiences during a cross-country expedition.

Interactive activities include exploring the inspiration behind a Mexican restaurant in Barrio Logan, negotiation between yourself and a stranger that might result in personal transformation, an imaginative playscape for children, an immense puzzle whose solution requires collective cooperation, thought-provoking artwork beside the water of San Diego Bay, and the chance to mingle among gigantic, stilt-walking puppets that resemble birds from prehistoric times! WOW, indeed!

Learn all about the what and where and when by clicking here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Playback Theatre and real stories at Old Globe.

A live outdoor performance was enjoyed today at the Old Globe theatre complex in Balboa Park.

Audience members were asked to share stories from their own lives, then an acting and music ensemble interpreted those stories up on stage.

The program was titled Imagine Theatre Presents: Playback Theatre. The event was produced in partnership with Imagine and the Chrysalis–Monarch Performing Arts Center.

I sat in the audience for a time and experienced how three stories were courageously told then interpreted.

One story involved a man’s serious illness, frustration and anger, then the realization that he could live one day at a time, to the fullest, with optimism and a sense of adventure. A second story involved the loss of a loved one and precious memories. A third concerned forks in the road of life, and how new opportunities arise with change.

This wonderful, very powerful performance was part of the Old Globe’s free AXIS Performing Arts Series. Click the preceding link to learn about upcoming events!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Paper theaters open to audiences in La Jolla!

Dozens of theaters have recently opened in La Jolla. Audiences have been gathering to view some of the most unusual theatre productions ever conceived. And it’s free!

Yes, dozens of small paper theaters have been carefully folded open in the Wisteria Cottage Gallery of the La Jolla Historical Society. The exhibition is titled The Smallest Show on Earth: Paper Theaters Explored.

Those who are interested in art, theatre, Victorian Era London (where toy theaters originated) or collectibles will be intrigued by this important collection.

Popular in the 19th century, paper theater kits were sold at the concession stand of an opera house, playhouse, or vaudeville theater. The kits included tabletop theaters that one could easily assemble, plus paper doll players and scripts. Tiny dramas could be played out at home. Better yet, original productions could be imagined and performed!

These paper theaters might seem a quaint reminder of a simpler time, a time when there was no television, no radio and no internet. For home entertainment, people had to rely on their own intelligence, creativity and imagination.

This cool exhibition includes many paper theaters from that era long past and the posters that promoted them. You’ll also see new, contemporary creations that were inspired by this very unique do-it-yourself art form!

The Smallest Show on Earth: Paper Theaters Explored continues through January 22, 2023.

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I post new blogs pretty often, so you might want to bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and check back from time to time.

You can explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on this website’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There’s a lot of stuff to share and enjoy!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

The Gingerbread Man runs in Chula Vista!

The Gingerbread Man emerged from a hot oven and arrived in Chula Vista today, thinking he could easily outrun families and kids attending Arts in the Park. But, alas, the famous little cookie met his fate.

The story of The Gingerbread Man was acted out, to the delight of the audience, in a very small wooden theater.

It was a fun demonstration of Kamishibai, a form of outdoor story telling that was popular in Japan during the first half of the 20th century.

The Kamishibai version of The Gingerbread Man was presented by Write Out Loud, who brought their live reading performances to the annual Arts in the Park event, held at Memorial Park in Chula Vista.

Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Man!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

William Shatner to join Michael Jackson, R2-D2 and C-3PO!

Next Thursday, July 21, 2022, William Shatner will produce handprints during San Diego Comic-Con. And these impressions by an iconic Hollywood star will join those of many others, including the likes of Michael Jackson, R2-D2 and C-3PO!

I stepped into the Theatre Box movie theater in the Gaslamp Quarter today and saw many of the handprints that already decorate the floor. I was told some of the handprints were produced in and imported from Hollywood. But those of William Shatner will be freshly made in San Diego!

Tickets are available here to watch the handprint ceremony, and for an autograph session with the legendary Captain Kirk, plus a performance, and an afterparty!

Oh, look. Here come the now infamous hands of Will Smith…

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

A major Hollywood star’s connection to the Gaslamp.

To Kill a Mockingbird. Moby Dick. The Omen. Cape Fear. Roman Holiday. Twelve O’Clock High. The Boys from Brazil. The Guns of Navarone. Spellbound. The Yearling. Gentleman’s Agreement. On the Beach. The Snows of Kilimanjaro.

Gregory Peck was one of Hollywood’s very biggest stars.

In 1962 he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. During his film career, he received five Best Actor nominations.

Gregory Peck was born in La Jolla. He attended San Diego High School and San Diego State University (then called San Diego State Teacher’s College).

His father, Gregory Pearl Peck, was a chemist and pharmacist–who worked in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Market Street.

The McGurck Block, 1887.

From 1903 to 1984, the Ferris and Ferris Drug Store occupied this building. For a long time it was San Diego’s only all-night drug store and, for a period of time, actor Gregory Peck’s father worked as the night druggist. The building was also used as a post office and as a ticket booth for the Coronado Ferry. The upper rooms of this three-story Italiante [sic] Revival building were used for rented rooms and became known as the Hotel Monroe in 1929.

Gregory Peck with his father, from Photoplay (1945). Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Drama at San Diego Student Shakespeare Festival!

Sword fights! Intrigue! Love! Betrayal!

Sounds Shakespearean?

It doth!

All of this high drama played out today in Heritage County Park, during the 2022 San Diego Student Shakespeare Festival!

Students from a variety of local schools performed scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. The event, produced by Write Out Loud and the San Diego Shakespeare Society, also included great applause!

I arrived in time to watch most of the performances and was impressed. I have no doubt many of the participants will go on to enjoy distinguished acting careers. Perhaps one day you’ll recognize some of these faces at the Old Globe or La Jolla Playhouse!

The performers represented Carlsbad High School, Mission Bay High School, Theater For Young Professionals, Bernardo Heights Middle School and Sparrow Academy. Selections from Shakespeare included As You Like It, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew, and Julius Caesar.

At the conclusion of the event, William Shakespeare himself showed up to offer his congratulations!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Giant ants interact with curious kids!

Three enormous ants interacted with excited children today in San Diego.

The strange human-size ants were first spotted carrying large bread crumbs about the green lawn of Liberty Station’s North Promenade.

The onlooking kids quickly understood the silent, methodical ants had a plan. They were carrying the crumbs and dropping them on the grass to form lines!

Lots of kids promptly assisted them!

Ants was the name of this very unique, super fun interactive outdoor performance, a part of La Jolla Playhouse’s 2022 Without Walls Festival at Liberty Station.

The three giant ants came from Polyglot Theatre in Australia!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Shakespeare: Call and Response coming to San Diego!

For a few minutes this afternoon in Balboa Park, I enjoyed watching the outdoor rehearsal of a community program coming to San Diego courtesy of the Old Globe.

Shakespeare: Call and Response, which will run from October 26 to November 14, 2021, is a three week tour of free performances with audience participation in diverse settings around the city.

What I observed was a crazy fun mixture of Shakespeare’s plays, modern romance, hip hop culture, dancing in the audience, laughter, bubbles, a Día de los Muertos altar, comedy about Halloween candy, and loads more impromptu cleverness and playful creativity!

This year’s program is part of the annual Globe For All Tour, which “brings free, live, professional productions of Shakespeare and select productions from our mainstage to diverse multigenerational audiences in the neighborhoods throughout San Diego County.”

Intrigued? Learn more here!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!