San Francisco International Arts Festival Announces Online Performances

Audiences who are interested in attending the San Francisco International Arts Festival's diverse and innovative programming, but who don't have the time, energy, or resources to get to Fort Mason now have a way to join in via the festival's virtual program.

Despite the numerous crises brought upon by the pandemic, artists have not lost their need to innovate and engage in creative opportunities. SFIAF is proud to not only provide a platform for these brave performers, but also to reconnect them with their beloved audiences and to give everyone unprecedented access to art through technology.

Guests now have the option to check out a variety of innovative acts from their homes. The virtual festival-within-a-festival runs from Oct. 20 to 24, with recorded performances and lively discussions via Zoom where guests can interact with some of the artists.

This year's virtual festival-within-a-festival highlights include:

• Crawfish - a solo workshop performance by Gamal Chasten (founding member, Universes) incorporating live drumming. It chronicles a man's journey from home to homelessness, while sharing insights on gentrification, global warming, and Alzheimer's.
• Blood/Sugar by Diana Wyenn - a highly theatrical virtual solo show that is a thrill ride through the roller coaster of diabetes. Originally a live stage show, now a virtual experience of deep humanity embodying the complexities of chronic illness.
• BLACK BENATAR'S Black Magic Cabaret - Beatrice L. Thomas's epic spectacle fusing circus, magic, and drag performance to bring audiences on a journey through race and cultural allyship, skewering fake wokeness.
• And, the return of preeminent SF artist Eth-Noh-Tech in If We Only Knew. Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo hang out all the dirty laundry Asians aren't supposed to discuss - the betrayals, the bewilderment, and blessings found on their 40-year journey together as artists, activists, and husband and wife.
• Samudra Dance Creations brings Storm, an exploration of human identity, the push and pull between the sense of belonging with others vs differences with others, and the micro-oppressions that start a chain reaction. Jyotsna and the company explores this theme through the authentic language of Bharatanatyam via a dance film

Performances by artists associated with SFIAF's ALUMNI program:

• It's almost like I'm feeling something is a concert by KY song writer, Maya Nell, whose music explores isolation and loss of sensation, and attempts to find meaningful connection in a media over saturated world
• Rosewater Vigilante airs The Lavender Files, a speculative fiction film-noir radio drama about how to disappear when privacy is dead.
• "The 45th", a docudrama conceived, created, and directed by Dazié Grego-Sykes, grapples with the complexities that Black people have confronted, made sense of, and been changed by the 45th President of the United States.

Previews of new works that will premiere in the Bay Area in 2022:

• Finding hope and strength in life through clothing, Religion Kitendi is a dance project by choreographer, Byb Chanel Bibene that dives into the "Congolese sapeurs," a group of dandy men and women striving amid hardship, social and political challenges through feeling good in their attire.
• Sam (single name only), founder of Detour Company, talks about adapting traditional theatre to create musical theater accessible/inclusive for actors with developmental challenges. A video will show this unique company in rehearsal and performance.
• SFIAF is writer David Schein's choice to announce the revival of Tokens: A Play on the Plague. In 1985, as AIDS ravaged the country, TOKENS immersed theatergoers into London's Great Plague - with rueful wit and soul, polyrhythmic music, and brilliant physical acting. View a video of original production and conversation with its creators. Music by Candace Natvig and David Schein

CLICK HERE for the full virtual program calendar to date.

ONLINE PROGRAMS

Samudra Dance Creations
Storm
Date(s) & Time(s): Wednesday, October 20, 6:30 PM
Duration: 15 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $5
Storm is an exploration of human identity, the push & pull between the sense of belonging with others vs differences with others; the micro-oppressions that start a chain reaction. The inner storm rages; some of us let our inner monsters out. The force of love or the force of monster; which one is going to win?

Cinematic Theatre
The White Shadow
Date(s) & Time(s): Wednesday, October 20, 7:00 PM
Duration: 70 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $10
"The White Shadow" is a story about ghosts in Hong Kong: a female factory worker in the 1970s, a Thai sex worker in the millennium, and an anti-Japanese occupation young lady during World War II. Three women from different eras review the history of Hong Kong Sham Shui Po.

Detour Company Theatre
Making Theatre Accessible for the Non-Traditional Actor
Date(s) & Time(s): Thursday, October 21, 2:00 PM
Duration: 45 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: By Donation ($10 suggested)
The presentation focuses on making theatre accessible for the non-traditional actor. Sam, founder of Detour Company Theatre, will talk about adapting traditional theatre to create authentic musical theater performances accessible/inclusive for actors with developmental challenges, Down Syndrome, Autism, Deafness, and Blindness. A video will show this unique company in rehearsal and performance.

Diana Wyenn
Blood/Sugar
Date(s) & Time(s): Thursday, October 21, 3:00 PM
Duration: 75 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $9 - $10
Diana Wyenn's highly theatrical virtual solo show is a thrill ride that takes you through the roller coaster of diabetes. Conceived originally as a live stage show, it is now a virtual experience, complete with rich projections, movement, text, and innovative theatricality as historical perspectives and staggering statistics collide with personal narrative and deep humanity to give embodied expression to the complexities of chronic illness.

Eth-Noh-Tec
If We Only Knew: Betrothed, Betrayed, Bewildered, Blessed - 40 years
Date(s) & Time(s): Thursday, October 21, 5:00 PM (followed by a panel discussion "For Better, For Worse" at 6:30pm)
Duration: 60 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $14 (panel discussion only $12)
In "If We Only Knew," Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo hang out all the dirty laundry that Asians aren't supposed to talk about - the betrayals and recoveries, the bewilderment and the blessings that they have found on their 40-year journey together as artists, as activists, and as husband and wife!

David Schein & Candace Natvig
TOKENS: A Play on the Plague
Date(s) & Time(s): Friday, October 22, 3:00 PM
Duration: 60 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: FREE - Donations Accepted
Tokens: A Play on the Plague, written by David Schein with music composed and arranged by Candace Natvig and David Schein brings to life London's plague of 1665. Originally staged in 1985 during the AIDS pandemic, we are looking to re-stage Tokens in the wake of COVID. Join our effort!

Beatrice L. Thomas
BLACK BENATAR'S Black Magic Cabaret
Date(s) & Time(s): Friday, October 22, 6:00 PM
Duration: 45 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $14
BBBMC is an epic spectacle that fuses circus, magic, and drag performance to bring audiences on a journey through race and cultural allyship. It's the last night for Black Benatar's reparations intern, and he's ready to steal the show. But BB is ready to skewer fake wokeness and Wyatt himself.

Gamal Chasten
CRAWFISH - WE THE INVISIBLE
Date(s) & Time(s): Friday, October 22, 7:00 PM
Duration: 45 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $10
Crawfish - is a solo workshop performance that incorporates live drumming. It chronicles a mans journey from home to homelessness, while also sharing his insights on gentrification, global warming, alzheimers. Time and place: September 11th, 2020, Berkeley CA, under the overpass of the 580 freeway. Crawfish did not move here. He was moved.

Dazié Grego-Sykes
The 45th (excerpts)
Date(s) & Time(s): Friday, October 22, 8:00 PM
Duration: 45 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: By Donation ($10 suggested)
Excerpts from "The 45th", a docudrama conceived, created, and directed by Dazié Grego-Sykes, This performance moves between the visceral and literal. centering Black perspectives. "The 45th" grapples the complexities of how Black people have confronted, made sense of, and been changed by The 45th President of the United States.

Kimi Sugioka Poetry Showcase
Looking Glass Evolutions
Date(s) & Time(s): Saturday, October 23, 6:00 PM
Duration: 60 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: FREE - Donations Accepted
"Looking Glass Evolutions" is a showcase that includes poets whose life experiences span multiple generations, cultures and gender preferences. Their voices and styles are varied and diverse but all of them write with compelling prescience about the volatile nature of our world, as well as portals to an enlightened and sustainable future.

Maya Nell
it's almost like i'm feeling something
Date(s) & Time(s): Saturday, October 23, 7:00 PM
Duration: 35 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $11 - $12
"it's almost like i'm feeling something" is a presentation of songs by Maya Nell, primarily drawing from two of their albums "adullessence", and "i need the beach." Through songwriting and lyricism, Maya names and gives space to the gritty challenges of creating communities of care.

Rosewater Vigilante
The Lavender Files
Date(s) & Time(s): Saturday, October 23, 8:00 PM
Duration: 60 minutes w/out intermission
Location: Online
Ticket Prices: $12
Lavender Black runs an illegal privacy and anti-surveillance store in Baytown, Independent California. When their investigation of a disappeared customer leads them to femme fatale Veronica and her missing ex, Lavender discovers how people disappear when privacy is dead and what family will do to get you back.

Byb Chanel Bibene (Congo-USA)
Les Sapeurs of Congo (60 minutes w/out intermission)
Online | Saturday, Oct 23, 9:00 PM | Tickets: By donation (Suggested $10.)
Who could have imagined that a group of people can find hope and strength in life through the clothes they wear? Religion Kitendi is a dance project that dives into the portrayals of "Congolese sapeurs," a group of dandy men and women who strive to survive hardship and social and political challenges through feeling good in their attire.

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