Solo Arts Heal
Climate Edition
Hosted by Gail Schickele
Excerpts, talkbacks and Q&A with special guests
providing health and healing education and advocacy.
Wednesday, September 9 | 7:30pm
Ananda Bena-Weber
FANCIFOOL! Presents
BEES: The Heart of the Matter
About the Show
‘We humans need bees to survive! Without those little honey-making workers, we would have no fruits and vegetables, and practically no bio-diversity of plants, and animals! Who wants to live on gruel? And I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t even be writing this if it weren’t for my morning coffee. Did you know that, if we lose the bees, it means no more joe? Urge to live waning… … In this special Fancifool-ish presentation, join renowned clown experts Dr. Ellen Smarphniak, Dr. Franz Lederhosen, and Delia as they discuss Bees, Agriculture, and the deeper psychology behind these environmental puzzles. There is light at the end of the tunnel for Mother Nature when we face these issues together and, of course, with a sense of humor! …Plus, I need chocolate! I just need it ok? No bees, no chocolate. … … think it over.”
“Ananda Bena-Weber brings skill and magnetism to the stage”.
–Jack Neal, Reno Gazette Journal
“A deeply gifted actor-dancer-comedienne”
-Dany Margolies, editor, Arts In LA
“Funny, beautiful, strange, sad, wonderful, whimsical Ananda Bena-Weber, combines her background in dance and theater in her one-woman show Fancifool!” –Irene Hsiao, SF Weekly”
“Ananda Bena-Weber’s ‘Fancifool!’ is a powerhouse.”
-Nadia Ascencio, ‘AllAboutSolo.com’
Ms. Bena‑Weber has the natural ability to portray a variety of colorful characters or none at all, emptying her face and body of expression, and becoming a mirror of those around her. There is no disputing that she gives a star performance in “Fancifool”.
– Nadia Ascencio from Allaboutsolo.com
About The Artist
Ananda Bena-Weber is an interdisciplinary performing artist who has performed in a diverse array of productions and venues throughout the United States and abroad. Her touring solo work, Fancifool!, recently won ‘Best Variety Show’ and was a Critic’s Choice pic at the United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC. Ananda has 4 full length solo shows available for sale and counting! Fancifool!, Fancifool! SEX EDITION, Fancifool! Folks: In Praise of Democracy, and Fancifool! Kids! Her fun-filled work focuses on common problems in modern American society and how these problems can be solved by loving and understanding one-another. Ananda was a professor of dance at Marymount Manhattan College, and a teaching artist for the Dance Theater of Harlem and Mark Morris Dance Center in New York for 16 years. She currently resides in San Francisco where she teaches for Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet. All Fancifool! programming comes with free educational outreach workshops tailored especially for your venue’s needs! Ananda is a huge fan of the Marsh as well as the Solo Arts Heal series, and is very excited to be a part of this powerful and helpful program.
Talk-back Guest
Ronni Brega has been a beekeeper for seven years in Oakland. She is past president of the Alameda County Beekeepers Association and is a docent and beekeeper at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley. She provides beekeeping support and community education of bees and their forage plants throughout the Bay Area.
Resources
Contact Ananda Bena-Weber
http://www.anandabenaweber.com
Contact Ronni Brega
Alameda County Beekeepers Association
Watch some Bee Documentaries:
Vanishing of the Bees
Honeyland
More than Honey
Queen of the Sun
The Pollinators
Visit some Non-profit orgs that promote bee and other pollinator health and conservation:
Project Apis projectapism.org
Pollinator Partnership pollinator.org
Xerces Society xerces.org
Honey Bee Health Coalition honeybeehealthcoalition.org
West Coast Universities with Bee Labs:
UC Berkeley specializes in Native bees: helpabee.org
UC Davis specializes in Honey Bees and Agriculture elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu
UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center: honey.ucdavis.edu
Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary
https://spikenardfarm.org/about-us/our-team/
http://www.queenofthesun.com/about/trailer/
ABOUT SOLO ARTS HEAL
Solo performers present real-life, empowering stories. Transformative experiences for audiences. A theater of resilience that celebrates overcoming mental and physical life challenges and offers hope and inspiration. SOLO ARTS HEAL includes excerpts, talkbacks, and Q&A that provide education and advocacy. Readings or clips of performances will be shared by artists in conversation with Gail Schickele, whose work as a manager and producer of solo artists inspired collaboration of performing arts presenters with artists on a medical track based on their personal experience. The collective creative vision? To help communities through educational outreach and the healing power of the Arts.
Gail Schickele (Host) champions arts & sciences taking her left and right brain wherever she travels. As an arts manager, consultant, and producer dba SAGE Artists, she convened an ‘Arts Heals’ group of solo artists at APAP 2020 whose unique stories of physical and mental challenges evince the healing power of The Arts. The COVID lockdown inspired Stephanie Weisman to create SOLO ARTS HEAL to share these outstanding stories of resilience, dramatic and comedic, for the entertainment and benefit of communities everywhere. Gail’s expertise in marketing, management, booking and production has served various theaters, festivals and events nationwide. Trained as a journalist in New York and Colorado, Gail has covered Colorado state politics and the environmental landscape of the Rockies. Environmental science inspires her educational and advocacy work in California with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, and for the League of Women Voters for which she’s worked as an administrator and reporter on environmental issues Including legislation, climate science outreach, and co-chair of an environmental speakers series. Gail is honored to host SOLO ARTS HEAL where artists powerful stories offer audiences great performance and ‘informance’ on issues related to health and the environment, inexorably linked.
Upcoming Solo Arts Heal Programs
September 16 – Joshua Rivedal
