NYC: Pocket Full of Change

NYC: Pocket Full of Change

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by TOPLAB - Jun 2, 2006

Opening Tonight, June 2, 2006!

Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble Presents

Pocket Full of Change Unflinching political performance

June 2-17, 2006 Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 7:00 pm

at The Brecht Forum 451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune Streets, 1-1-2 blocks north of West 11 Street) New York City

Admission: $20 ($15 Students-Seniors) Sundays sliding scale admission: $12-$20

Reservations: (212) 875-7476

"Led by founder and director Leese Walker, the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble merges music, theater, improvisation, and structured composition into a total multi-media experience--a 'happening' in which art leaps off the wall and into the seat next to us." --Asbury Park Press, March 2005

Musicians: Jody Espina (sax-woodwinds), Michel Gentile (flute), Rob Henke (trumpet), Rolf Sturm (guitar), Jim Whitney (bbutt)

Performers: Andrea Ariel, Donna Bouthillier, Brian Duguay, Julie Pasqual, Leese Walker

Costumes: Roxana Ramseur

Lights: Ruben Saanich

Set: Nathan Elsener

Artistic Direction: Leese Walker

About the Show

Mixing jazz, clowning, theatre, and modern dance, the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble rips through the political topic-sphere in its latest offering, POCKET FULL OF CHANGE. Appropriating concepts from jazz and popular music, Strike Anywhere's performers act as different "instruments" or "parts of the band". And, as with jazz, the company improvises on the pieces every night, making each performance unique. From the ill-effects of apathy and consumerism, to media manipulation and the rush to war, the ensemble raises an unflinching set of questions as it riffs with humor and insight on topics such as civil liberties, capitalism, and healthcare in today's society. Strike Anywhere challenges audiences to examine the issues raised by the performance by providing a forum for community dialogue following each show. A member of the Brecht Forum will facilitate each post-show dialogue.

About Strike Anywhere

Established in 1997 by founder and Artistic Director, Leese Walker, Strike Anywhere is a permanent ensemble of world clbutt musicians, dancers, visual artists, and actors. The company's work is guided by the words of Bertolt Brecht, "Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it." Performers collaborate through an improvisational process to create politically charged, original works that address socially-relevant issues. Strike Anywhere has toured extensively. Its critically acclaimed show, 10 BRECHT POEMS, has played at over 35 venues and aired in full on local NYC television. The ensemble has worked with improvisation guru Paul Sills (Founder of Second City), Ping Chong, and avant-garde composer Walter Thompson.

This show is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Puffin Foundation and from individual contributors.

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"My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." --George W. Bush, May 1, 2003

"...I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult, and that we would prevail. Well, it has been difficult--and we are prevailing." --George W. Bush, June 28, 2005

U.S. military baneities through May 1, 2003: 140 U.S. military baneities through June 28, 2005: 1743 U.S. military baneities as of June 2, 2006: 2474

Iraqi civilian baneities through May 1, 2003: 1982 Iraqi civilian baneities through June 28, 2005: 22,563 � 25,560 (estimated)* Iraqi civilian baneities as of June 2, 2006: 38,059 � 42,434 (estimated)*

*These figures are based on the number of baneities cited in various news reports and have been criticized, with much justification, for not giving an accurate buttessment of the real civilian rest count. A much more rigorous and statistically-reliable study, conducted by teams from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Al-Mustansiriya University, and published in The Lancet (the British medical journal) in the Fall of 2004, put the figure at around 100,000 civilians dead. However, that data had been based on "conservative buttumptions", according to research team leader Les Roberts, and the actual count could be significantly higher. Note also that the Lancet study's data greatly underestimated baneities in Falujah due to the surveying problems encountered there at that time. If the full and true data from this town is included, the compiled studies would point to about 250,000 excess civilian rests since the outbreak of the aggression and genocide committed by the United States against the people of Iraq.

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