Port Costa Residency

February 18, 2019September 10, 2019 | directorebeccer

Idiot String’s artistic residency in Port Costa, sponsored by the Port Costa Conservation Society, is now underway! Our residency aims to grow Idiot String’s creative and outreach activities, and to continue to activate the Port Costa School with creative programming for the local community and artists from around the Bay Area.

Featured projects of the residency include:

Public Workshop Series

Idiot String offers a series of creative workshops open to the public at the Port Costa School. Each workshop focuses on a different set of performance skills or artistic techniques related to our work. They’re a great way for folks of all experience levels to try something new, or to dive deeper into an established practice. Click here for upcoming offerings.

EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Sponsored by funding from the Crockett Community Foundation, Idiot String offers in-school performing arts education workshops and master classes to the John Swett Unified School District. Workshops, master classes, and teaching residencies are available to other school districts and community groups as well; please visit our Creative Education page for more information.

Port STories (2019)

Idiot String’s site-specific, interactive production was created throughout late 2018 and early 2019 at the Port Costa School, and performed at the School and throughout downtown Port Costa in June. Port Stories was commissioned by the East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation, with additional support from the Edward J. Daly Foundation and Crockett Community Foundation.

Artists’ Mini-Retreats and Salons

Are you an artist who could use some time set aside for your own artistic practice? Would you value the opportunity to build a community of creative folk around cocktails and conversation? Contact us for an invitation to our Artists’ Mini-Retreats and Salons. Held approximately every other month on a Wednesday, each Mini-Retreat concludes with a visit to the Dram Shop at the Bull Valley Roadhouse with that day’s cohort of artists.

Community Outreach

We’re delighted to be able to offer residents of Port Costa, Crockett, and Tormey reduced-price tickets to Port Stories and public half-day workshops. Show tickets for residents are just $5, and day workshops are $10 for residents, also thanks to funding from the Crockett Community Foundation!

Thank you, new funders!

January 21, 2019September 10, 2019 | directorebeccer

It is with deep gratitude and excitement for the year ahead that we announce two new Idiot String supporters: the Crockett Community Foundation and the Edward J. Daly Foundation.

The Crockett Community Foundation will make it possible for us to offer both a public workshop series in Port Costa, and in-class programs for students in the John Swett Unified School District. The Foundation is also underwriting a reduced-cost ticket program for residents of Port Costa, Crockett and Tormey. If you’re a local, you can attend our workshops for $10 and shows for just $5!

The Crockett Community Foundation is dedicated to supporting local projects that foster volunteerism and strengthen the local community. If you’d like to volunteer with Idiot String at one of our events, please drop us a line at idiotstring@gmail.com.

Thumper setting the stage for AESOP AMUCK in Port Costa, 2015. Photo by Rebecca Longworth.

Josephine (Maria A. Leigh) holds herself aloof in a scene from ELIXIR OF LIFE (2017). Photo by Serena Morelli.

Mr. Meekins practicing a Shakespearean soliloquy at the Bull Valley Roadhouse in 2015.

Idiot String in Port Costa: at the Port Costa School setting up a Peripatetic Players summer tour performance, exploring the Theatre of Dreams during a sneak preview of Elixir of Life, and preparing a thirty-minute version of Romeo and Juliet in honor of the Bull Valley Roadhouse’s anniversary.

The Edward Joseph Daly Foundation is sponsoring design elements for our new site-specific production in Port Costa that will premiere this June. As the audience discovers the play taking place all around them at the Port Costa School and throughout downtown Port Costa, they’ll get up close to the props and costumes made possible by the Daly Foundation.

Edward Joseph Daly, who was the owner of Oakland-based World Airways, and his wife June V. Daly, were lifelong philanthropists who quietly supported humanitarian causes, arts education, and social justice efforts. Less quietly, Mr. Daly is known for audaciously airlifting 57 orphans out of South Vietnam in 1975. Since his death in 1984, his family has been carrying on his legacy of giving through the Foundation that bears his name.

Sybil (Marlene Yarosh) examines Doc Vitae’s cure-all in Elixir of Life (2017). Photo by Serena Morelli. “Grand Show” poster designed by Wendy Addison.

Josephine (Maria A. Leigh) writes in her room as Anita (Kristin Matia) looks on in an evening scene from Elixir of Life (2017). Photo by Serena Morelli.

Hobble (Joan Howard), Doc Vitae (Julie Douglas), and Hollow (Miyaka Cochrane) in the medicine show in Elixir of Life (2017). Photo by Serena Morelli.

Some of the props and costumes featured in Elixir of Life. Photos by Serena Morelli.

Thank you to our new funders!

It’s the support of organizations like these — and individuals like you — who make it possible for us to create plays, workshops, and other events for you. Learn more about donating here.

East Bay Fund for Artists Commission

April 17, 2018September 10, 2019 | directorebeccer

We’re thrilled to announce that the East Bay Fund for Artists at the East Bay Community Foundation has awarded Idiot String a matching grant to support the development of a new site-specific play in Port Costa — part of our residency hosted by the Port Costa Conservation Society — that will premiere in 2019.

It’s a challenge grant, so we need your help! We have until July 15 to raise $4000 in individual donations, to match EBFA’s pledge.

Your donation will support us today, and commission a new play for next year!