Past Events

Blue Apple Players and 21c Museum Join Together for Student Drama Performance
and Exhibition of Living Pictures May 13th - July 8th


Opening Reception and Performance
Tuesday, May 13th, 6:00pm
Performance by Western Middle School Students
Atrium gallery
The event is free and open to the public

21c Museum is proud to present its second collaboration with Blue Apple Players and their most recent drama and photographic project with Western Middle School students. Blue Apple Players has guided 100 sixth and seventh grade Western Middle School students through a creative and educational drama workshop, with a specific focus on the tableau vivant art form. Photographed by Patrick Pfister of Pfoto.com, the photo project will be displayed at the 21c Museum until July 8th. To mark the opening of this special project, a select group of students will share a short demonstration of drama skills, and some will be available to answer questions about the process of creating the photographs.

Additional details and related information


Artist and Curatorial Talk with Werner Reiterer


Wednesday, April 16, 6pm 
Atrium Gallery
Free and open to the public

In conjunction with Raw Loop, Werner Reiterer’s first solo exhibition in the United States to open at the Speed Art Museum on April 22nd, 21c Museum will host an informal discussion with the exhibition’s curator, Julien Robson, and the artist. The evening’s discussion will offer an insight into the humor and irony that Reiterer uses in his work to question our perceptions of art’s relationship to everyday reality. Through drawings, objects, and installations, he engages the viewer and forces us to re-examine the nature of everyday experiences.

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21c and LFS Monthly Film Series present a Double Feature and Q&A
with Kentucky Native and acclaimed film filmmaker Allison Anders


BORDER RADIO: Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 7PM 
GAS FOOD LODGING: Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 9PM  
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public
 

For this Month’s Film Series, 21c and LFS bring you a special double feature of the Kentucky-born, Los Angeles-based filmmaker Allison Anders with a Q&A immediately following each showing. 21c and LFS will show Border Radio (1989) and Gas Food Lodging (1992), two early films by Anders that gave her critically-acclaimed status in American independent film.

An evocative 16mm black and white film, Border Radio is a post-punk diary in which a singer-songwriter goes missing, leaving his wife, a no-nonsense rock journalist to track his whereabouts. Gas Food Lodging depicts a blue-collar mother with two diametrically opposed daughters who try to live a normal life in their whistle-stop desert town in New Mexico. While one escapes in romantic melodramas of Mexican cinema, the other throws herself into meaningless relationships with men. Please join us for this special evening for two exceptional films and a chance to meet such a celebrated filmmaker.

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Reception and After-Party for the Kentucky Premiere of FLOW: For Love of Water


Please join us in celebrating the Kentucky premiere of the acclaimed documentary FLOW: For Love of Water

Meet the Director Irena Salina and Co-Producer Gill Holland
Friday, March 21, 10pm until Late
Atrium Gallery
with DJ Jesse Jamz
Free with Ticket Stub or Donation to the Foundation
Cash Bar

The film was a co-production of Louisville-based The Group Entertainment, Executive Produced by Louisvillian Augusta Brown Holland and co-produced by her husband Gill Holland, and is directed by French filmmaker Irena Salina. The movie will be screened at Baxter Theater starting March 21st. Please check your local listing closer to the date for show times.

Additional details and related information


21c Museum Foundation's Monthly Film Series with LFS Presents Frederick Wiseman's Titicut Follies


Tuesday, March 18, 7pm
Tuesday, March 18, 9pm
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public

Total running time: 84 minutes. Film will be screened on 16mm prints.
Please note that due to its documentary nature, this film contains adult content.

Titicut Follies
Frederick Wiseman made his documentary debut with this controversial 84-minute survey of conditions that existed during the mid-'60s at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Made in 1967, the film was subjected to a worldwide ban until 1992 because the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that it was an invasion of inmate privacy.

The film goes behind the walls to show stark and graphic images exposing the treatment of inmates by guards, social workers, and psychiatrists. The title refers to a musical revue staged by inmates and guards. The documentary was cited as the "Best Film Dealing with the Human Condition" at the 1967 Festival Dei Popoli (Florence) and also honored as the "Best Film" at the 1967 Mannheim International Filmweek. The story behind the complicated legal issues raised by this film and the attempts to suppress it are detailed by Carolyn Anderson and Thomas W. Benson in their book, Documentary Dilemmas: Frederick Wiseman's "Titicut Follies"  (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991).

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California Guitar Trio Makes a Special Appearance at the 21c Museum

Portion of the proceeds to benefit 21c Museum Foundation and Ohio Valley Creative Energy

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 8pm, doors at 7:30pm
Atrium Gallery
$10 in advance and $12 at the door
Cash bar
Tickets are available at ear-x-tacy and the 21c Hotel Front Desk

The California Guitar Trio
The internationally acclaimed California Guitar Trio comes to the 21c Museum for a special performance of stunning guitar talent. Fusing styles of classical, rock, blues, jazz, world music, progressive, as well as the quintessential California musical genre surf music, the eclectic Trio has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. The members of the Trio first met in England at one of Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft Courses in 1987 and toured together with Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists. Not wishing to disband after the League had run its course, the CGT officially formed in Los Angeles in 1991, honing their intricate original compositions and classical re-workings. To date, the CGT has shared the stage with musicians such as King Crimson, Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Tito Puente, Taj Mahal among many others and has been featured at every Olympic Games from 1998 to 2004. More information, as well as streaming audio, is available at the California Guitar Trio’s website.

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21c Museum Foundation and the Louisville Film Society's Monthly Film Series:
Shorts by Apparatus Productions

Tuesday February 19th, 2008, 7pm  
Tuesday February 19th, 2008, 9pm  
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public

Total running time: 92 minutes. All films will be screened on 16mm prints.

Apparatus Productions
The now defunct, non-profit Apparatus Productions was co-founded by Todd Haynes, Barry Ellsworth and Christine Vachon. Set-up to channel grants to emerging film-makers who were not well served by the traditional funding sources, Apparatus Shorts dealt with gay themes, women's issues, and African-American life. As Haynes comments, "we wanted to preserve the form of short film-making & make it something really exciting that wasn't just a stepping stone for feature film-making." Under Apparatus, several films which directly question narrative & cinematic convention were completed.

Additional details and related information
 


21c Museum Foundation and the Kentucky Center Host the Wau Wau Sisters Post-show Reception and Party

Saturday February 16th, 2008, 9:30pm  
Atrium Gallery
with DJ Jesse Jamz
The event is free and open to the public
Cash bar with drink specials

After the performance of the Wau Wau Sisters at the Kentucky Center for the Arts Bomhard Theater, meet the Wau Wau Sisters at 21c for the reception, after party, and live entertainment by DJ Jesse Jamz. If you'd like to stay the night at 21c Hotel, please call 502.217.6300 and ask about the special Valentine's Weekend offer.

"Take two dirty-talking New Yorkers, throw in some impressive circus tricks, a string of lewd jokes, a bit of burlesque titillation and you have one very cheeky night out." - The Sunday Times (London)

Tickets for the Wau Wau Sisters performance are $25. For more information, please visit: The Kentucky Center and the Wau Wau Sisters.


21c Museum Foundation Presents Dan Dutton's The Faun

The Faun Dance Performance
Thursday January 31st, 2008, 8pm
Friday February 1st, 2008, 2pm
Friday February 1st, 2008, 8pm
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public, limited seating
Performance lasts about 55 minutes
 

The poet-artist with the barefoot mind returns to the 21c Museum to portray the myth of The Faun. Heralding from classical fables and fantasies, The Faun is a dance performance-installation based on the Greek myths of Pan and the nymphs. This performance in particular will be his "Club Faun" which incorporates a cross between a Japanese tea house, a Noh theater stage, and an electronic dance club. The lyrics are adaptations from the sagas of Nonnus, Ovid, Sappho, and the Homeric Hymn to Pan wherein the dance and music emanate from the sculptural stage. The performance consists of 11 short parts and will be accompanied by original electronic music recordings.

Additional details and related information
 


21c Museum Foundation Presents Artist Talk with Anthony Goicolea

Thursday January 24, 2008
Informal Artist Talk 6pm
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public
 

We are excited to welcome Anthony Goicolea back to 21c Museum to discuss his more recent body of work, The Septemberists  Series and video currently on display in Proof on Main and the 21c Video Lounge. Goicolea will also speak to the excited new work to be showcased in the coming year at multiple venues across the US, Europe and Asia. He will have solo exhibitions with Aurel Scheibler Gallery in Berlin in March, then again in Vancouver with Monte Clark Gallery in April, then in September an exhibition in LA with Sandroni Rey Gallery, then a show in NY with Postmasters in November and lastly in February 2009 in Seoul, korea with Galerie Hyundai. Also on the books for Anthony is a career survey in 2010 at the NC Museum of Art.

The current exhibition of Goicolea’s The Septemberists, shot on location on a Massachusetts farm, portrays a group of boys in a dream-like landscape reminiscent of an old Southern plantation that chronicles the preparations and processes associated with traditional ritualistic ceremonies. Similar to Goicolea’s earlier work, the artist invites the viewer into his fantastical realms with images inspired by fairy tales, mythology, adolescent rituals, and science fiction.

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21c Museum Foundation and the Louisville Film Society Present Taste of Cherry  by Abbas Kiarostami

Tuesday January 15, 2008, 7pm and 9pm
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public

The entire program is about 95 mins. All films will be screened on 16mm prints.

Synopsis
A sublime and deceptively simple parable, Abbas Kiarostami's Palme d'Or winner follows a middle-aged man who has decided to end his life. Driving through the hilly outskirts of Tehran in search of someone who will bury him if he succeeds or rescue him if he fails, he meets an assortment of different characters, each with their own reason to turn down the task.

Voting "Taste of Cherry" the best film of the year in the international edition of Time magazine, Richard Corliss wrote: "The film's artful simplicity, its respect for each speaker's beliefs, its refusal to sentimentalize: all underline the director's strategy of art. Let the rest of the film world ride a rocket to excess; Kiarostami will find a quiet place and listen to a man's heart, right up until it stops beating. And then he will listen some more." © (Zeitgeist Films Ltd.)

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21c Museum Foundation Presents Squallis Puppeteers

In the Atrium Gallery
January 3, 11am
Free for the public
Limited Seating, 100 seats available
Register by emailing elizabeth.hurst@21chotel.com

11:00am - 11:40 Squallis Puppeteers will perform "Li'l Horse's Big Adventure" (perfect for 3-8 year olds)
11:40am - refreshments served (cookies, juice & fruit)
Immediately following refreshments there will be a finger puppet workshop.
Children will have the opportunity to make their own finger puppets.

Additional details and related information


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Ben Sollee Album Debut Performance
Ben Sollee Celebrates Release of Learning to Bend with an Evening of Music and Dance

In the Atrium Gallery
November 16th & 17th, 8pm
Tickets: $10 available at 21c at the show
Tickets will also be available at ear-X-tacy, Quills Coffee & Books, & Sunergos Coffee

Celebrating his debut release of Learning to Bend, Ben Sollee will return to 21c Museum Foundation to perform his unique musical style. For these exclusive evenings, he will not only be playing new compositions, but will direct a performance that combines music, dance, and photography.

This special event will feature the choreography of David Ingram, of empujon dance company, as well as Delilah Smyth, formerly of Louisville Ballet. Performing to the music will be Erica De La O and Kristopher Wojtera, two “First Soloist’s” dancers from the Louisville Ballet. In addition, the photographic work of Mickie Winters, a project realized in collaboration with Sollee, will be exhibited at 21c in a series inspired by the movement of dance.

Additional details and related information


21c Museum Hotel and the Louisville Film Society Presents a festival of films by the Brothers Quay

Tuesday October 30th, 7pm and 9pm
Atrium Gallery
The event is free and open to the public.

The entire program is about 96 mins. All films will be screened on 16mm prints.

The Brothers Quay
Identical twins, the extraordinary Brothers Quay have been blurring the boundary between miniature puppetry and live action with their innovative short films since the late 1970s. On their exquisite handcrafted sets they have conjured up an unforgettable world, suggestive of a landscape of long repressed childhood dreams.

The following films will be screened:

  1. REHEARSALS FOR EXTINCT ANATOMIES
  2. THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
  3. THE CABINET OF JAN SVANKMAJER
  4. NOCTURNA ARTIFICIALIA
  5. ANAMORPHOSIS
    The Quays' interest in esoteric illusions finds its perfect realization in this fascinating animated lecture on the art of anamorphosis. This artistic technique, often found in 16th- and 17th-century paintings, utilizes a method of visual distortion which plays mischievously with the relationship between the eye and what it sees.
  6. STREET OF CROCODILES
    The Quays' masterpiece, STREET OF CROCODILES is adapted from a short story by Bruno Schulz, and was their first film shot on 35mm. A museum keeper spits into the eyepiece of an ancient peep-show and sets the musty machine in motion, plunging the viewer into a nightmarish netherworld of bizarre puppet rituals among the dirt and grime.

For more information please contact:

George P. Parker, Jr. - Executive Director
george@louisvillefilm.org
Louisville Film Society
www.louisvillefilm.org


Helen Pickett: One on One

In the Atrium Gallery
October 16, 7:30 pm
Free and open to the public (limited seating)

The Louisville Ballet and 21c Museum Foundation will host an evening with choreographer Helen Pickett on Tuesday, October 16th at 7:30 pm in the atrium. This informal dialogue with Pickett will explore her choreography, her dance and acting careers, and her approach to tapping into personal activity.

Helen Pickett is one of three choreographers chosen for the Louisville Ballet's Visionary Forces on November 2nd and 3rd. One of Dance Magazine's 2007 Ones to Watch, Helen Pickett is far more than a dancer or choreographer. This former principal dancer with Ballet Frankfurt (under the direction of William Forsythe) has developed a successful career as dancer, choreographer, actor (film and stage), writer and teacher. Helen Pickett has participated in several films by such noted directors as Eve Sussman, whose work was well received in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Pickett has also acted in Sussman's more recent project Rape of the Sabine Women recently acquired by 21c Museum.

Special Offer: Hotel and Dance Package

For the event Visionary Forces, 21c Museum Hotel will offer a $221.00 Package that includes a deluxe king bedded room and two tickets to the Louisville Ballet's performances of Visionary Forces on either Friday, November 2nd at 8 pm or Saturday, November 3rd at 2 pm or 8 pm in the Whitney Hall at The Kentucky Center.

Please call 21c Museum Hotel at 502-217-6300 for reservations. Deadline for reservations is October 24, 2007. Offer is based upon availability.

www.louisvilleballet.org
www.helenpickett.com/cho.html
Read the press release
Read Helen Pickett's editorial


Specific Gravity Theater Performances

September 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 8:00 pm
September 23, 30, 5:00 pm

Tickets: $15 general / $12 students / $10 groups of 10 or more
Location: 21C MuseumHotel, 700 W. Main Street in Louisville
For reservations call 502.384.2SGE (2743) or visit www.specificgravityensemble.com

Read the press release


TURN THAT OLD MUSICAL INSTRUMENT INTO AN INSTRUMENT OF CHANGE

Thru September 21, 2007

Donate Your Used Musical Instruments to the Instruments A Comin’ program, and Help Make Life in the Big Easy a Little Easier. Katrina swept away the music! Instruments A Comin’ is bringing much-needed musical instruments back to New Orleans. This program is part of the Tipitina’s Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping Louisiana’s unique musical culture survive the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The 21c Museum Foundation is proud to support the Tipitina’s Foundation as part of our ongoing efforts to encourage the understanding and appreciation of art in all its forms. All donations are tax deductible.

Bring donations by September 21 to the following locations:

For more information on Instruments A Comin’, visit TipitinasFoundation.org.


Louisville Design Association Lecture Series

September 20, 6:00 pm

Artists lecture: Gary Baseman. Presented by 21c Museum Foundation and Louisville Graphic Design Association September 20, 2007 doors at 6:00 pm lecture at 7:00 pm cash bar.

www.garybaseman.com
Read the press release


Idea Festival Think Tank at 21c

September 14, 15 and 16

More details coming soon.


Second Annual 21c Museum Foundation Pajama Party

September 7, 6:00 pm

21c Museum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that operates the galleries within 21c Museum Hotel. The Foundation relies on a variety of funding sources for its activities, the largest of which is the Annual Pajama Party. Proceeds from the party benefit the Museum's general operating fund and allow 21c to continue to share its collection and programs free of charge with the community and beyond.

Additional information


Roy “Futureman” Wooten & The Black Mozart Ensemble

September 8

More details coming soon.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nypsluYXIyI
www.myspace.com/futuremanmusic


Artist Talk and Lunch-Time Tour

August 23, 7:00 pm

Please join us for an evening lecture with artist Marc Swanson. Swanson‘s work is currently featured in 21c street level gallery exhibition, Marc Swanson: Beginning to See the Light.

Marc Swanson: Beginning to See the Light, comprises artwork made for several different exhibitions over the last five years, reuniting in this context to present a broad overview of the artist‘s œuvre. Swanson‘s sculptures, paintings, installations, and video projects combine disparate references to art history, music, mythology, and his own personal lore, providing a body of work that explores ongoing themes such as autobiography, duality, and desire. For this exhibition, Swanson has embarked on a meditative process that is not merely a nostalgic portrait, a history, or a looking back, but a contemporary struggle forward to know one‘s self, presenting us with an exquisitely vulnerable portrait of an artist.

Miki Garcia, Curator of Marc Swanson: Beginning to See the Light, will also be giving a free lunch-time tour at noon on August 23.

Exhibit Details
Other Upcoming Events at 21c


Moving Pictures: Dance/Film

August 18, 8:00 pm

The Louisville Ballet, the Louisville Film Society and 21c Museum Hotel present Moving Pictures: Dance/Film, a film series exploring the intersections of these two art forms. This unique look at the world of dance seen through the cameras lens debuts with Guy Maddins Dracula: Pages from a Virgins Diary (2002). The screening of this full-length film, based on the ballet by Mark Godden, will be on Saturday, August 18 at 8:00 pm at 21c Museum Hotel, 700 West Main St. All screenings in the Moving Pictures series are free and open to the public.

View the Save the Date card
www.louisvilleballet.org
www.louisvillefilm.org


Neva Geoffrey with Justin Craig and Ben Sollee with special guests

August 3rd, 2007
In the Atrium Gallery
8:00 pm to Late
Performances Are Free to the Public
Cash Bar

See what the critics are saying about Neva Geoffrey‘s music:

  • "Sensual indie pop that is warm and visceral, complete with vivacious melodies fit for a full orchestra." —Smother magazine
  • "With moving piano ballads, modest pop numbers and jazzy torch songs, this young American is an exceptional talent." —Clt. Alt. Country
  • "Beautiful, catchy as hell songs that fall somewhere between Norah Jones and Cat Power." —Hanx

Neva Geoffrey‘s performances tells a story of her travels. She sings whimsical melodies over a playful piano or an airy guitar. Residing in Lexington, KY, Geoffrey has spent the last few months sharing her debut album, "The Days are Rolling," through extensive touring. She has been compared to mind folks in the likes of Andrew Bird and Cat Power, but her songwriting has an ethereal voice all its own.

Born and raised in Kentucky, 23-year old cellist and singer Ben Sollee has spent his young life marinating in traditions of Appalachian, folk, R&B, and classical music. Ben is developing a reputation for his fresh approach to the cello, accompanying his soulful singing with a unique, three-finger plucking style.

www.myspace.com/nevageoffrey
www.myspace.com/bensollee
www.bensollee.com


Neva Geoffrey and Tyrone Cotton

July 6th, 2007
In the Atrium Gallery
7:30 pm to Late
Performances Are Free to the Public
Cash Bar

21c presents the talented young songwriter out of Lexington, Neva Geoffrey, for a special solo performance. Then taking us into the evening, also for the first time at 21c, Louisville native Tyrone Cotton will perform songs from his recently released album on the In Room One label.

See what the critics are saying about Neva Geoffrey‘s music:

  • "Sensual indie pop that is warm and visceral, complete with vivacious melodies fit for a full orchestra." —Smother magazine
  • "With moving piano ballads, modest pop numbers and jazzy torch songs, this young American is an exceptional talent." —Clt. Alt. Country
  • "Beautiful, catchy as hell songs that fall somewhere between Norah Jones and Cat Power." —Hanx

Neva Geoffrey‘s performances tells a story of her travels. She sings whimsical melodies over a playful piano or an airy guitar. Residing in Lexington, KY, Geoffrey has spent the last few months sharing her debut album, "The Days are Rolling," through extensive touring. She has been compared to mind folks in the likes of Andrew Bird and Cat Power, but her songwriting has an ethereal voice all its own.

Tyrone Cotton has moved audiences in every size venue from New York University to the Kyoto International Folk Festival in Japan, where he has toured four times. After opening for Rahn Burton, former pianist for jazz legend Rasahn Roland Kirk, Burton said, "Tyrone can play his music anywhere in the world. If it were not true I would not say it." After a Louisville performance, Beat-legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti approached Cotton to tell him, "You‘re the real thing." Historian Douglas Brinkley was blown away by Cotton‘s performance at an INSOMNIACATHON music and poetry Festival. And legendary composer, musician, author David Amram, who has heard Cotton several times, said in his usual animated manner, "He‘s amazing!"

Cotton‘s style, in part, was born while studying classical guitar in college. Also around this time he began playing blues and folk blues in coffee shops and small venues, mixing blues with classical. He employed classical techniques such as a right hand classical finger style, playing arpeggios of chords instead of strumming. He also began to sing. He developed a love for words, especially the work of Langston Hughes, and began to realize their power. The desire to play music, to sing, and to tell a story was born.

www.myspace.com/nevageoffrey
www.tyronecotton.com


Ben Sollee and Abigail Washburn Performance

June 1, 7:30pm
In the Atrium Gallery

21c presents a unique musical performance with Abigail Washburn and Ben Sollee. The duo will be joined by a rare performance by the international award winning throat singers from Tuva, the Alash Ensemble.

Additional details and event photos


Empujón‘s New Works Performance

May 24 and 25, 7pm
Performances Are Free To The Public (limited seating)

Louisville‘s foremost contemporary dance project, Empujón, will be returning to 21C Museum Hotel following their standing room only performance in 2006 to bring an evening of original premiers Thursday May 24th and Friday May 25th 2007. The evening will consist of new works by choreographer and Empujón Creative Director David Ingram as well as new works by Philadelphia‘s Ashley Suttlar and Louisville‘s Mikelle Bruzina, Delilah Smyth, Theresa Bautista and new Louisville resident Pete Lay. Also new this year to Empujon is video art design by Louisville based artist Valerie Sullivan Fuchs.

Empujón is the vehicle of choreographer / dancer David Ingram. Upon graduating from Butler University with a B.F.A. in dance performance, David went on to study dance and choreography with numerous schools, companies and summer programs across the U.S. David currently dances with North Carolina Dance Theatre, but Louisville audiences will recognize David as a former member of the Louisville Ballet.

It is most important that you see that all movement is beautiful, and that all movement is art. If, after having watched Empujón, you look at yourself and see how beautiful you are when you move then we as Empujón have accomplished something wonderful.

www.empujon.com
www.valeriefuchs.com


Blue Apple Players, St. George‘s Community Center and 21C Museum Hotel Join Together for St. George‘s Community Center Drama Club Students

May 22, 6pm

The Blue Apple Players have been leading a unique 10-week theater program involving a group of students from St. George‘s Community Center. The 21C Museum Hotel graciously invited the students to the museum and provided an opportunity for the St. George drama students to see and explore the museum. During this project, the group visited the museum and then chose a piece of art he/she liked. The students used drama techniques to create a short performance piece inspired by the work of art they chose.

These performance pieces will be shared in an informal presentation at the 21C Museum Hotel on Tuesday, May 22nd at 6:00 p.m. For more information, please call Blue Apple Players at 502-587-7990.

www.blueappleplayers.org