Bilingual, outdoor children’s theater at CTP

Steven Dominguez, a director at the Collaborative Theatre Project, has recently produced the first play of the Act Out Children’s Theatre, with a bilingual English/Spanish adaptation of the book by Maurice Sendak, “Where The Wild Things Are.” The production, with child actors, bilingual narrators and papier-mache monsters, was delightful.

Dominguez received a bachelor’s degree in acting from City College of New York and went on to a 20-year acting career in New York. He worked with Joseph Papp in the Public Theater and performed on Sesame Street. We visited on Zoom.

EH: How did you first get interested in theater?

SD: I found it in high school. It was a high school musical. It saved me, because I was not sure what direction to go in my life. Then I ended up spending most of my adult life training and acting. Continue reading Bilingual, outdoor children’s theater at CTP

Teddy Abrams discusses orchestra’s new projects

Teddy Abrams, music director and conductor of the Britt Festival Orchestra, recently announced Britt’s new online presence. Now, we can stream videos of past Britt performances previewed by the artists’ comments on each piece.

A new work premieres at 3 p.m. every Friday through August on Britt’s Facebook page. Abrams and I talked on Zoom.

EH: What’s new with the Britt Orchestra?

TA: We’ve moved almost everything that Britt is doing online in a few different formats. The education side and the orchestra side are the big public-facing parts of Britt that we wanted to keep alive in a meaningful way. What we thought, for this year, is to go through our archives and choose some of our really special performances, and then to present each performance with a special introduction that

would be: an interview with the guest artist, or the composer, or members of the orchestra, and myself. This is an online profile that we’ve never had. Continue reading Teddy Abrams discusses orchestra’s new projects

Britt Festival Orchestra talks music in a new era

Teddy Abrams, Music Director and Conductor of the Britt Festival Orchestra is also Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra in Kentucky. Abrams, members of the Louisville Orchestra, and other prominent musicians have been performing at the Britt Festival for the past eight years.

This year, we can stream live videos of past performances preceded by a discussion with Abrams, orchestra members, and guest artists at 3 p.m. every Friday through August on Facebook’s Britt Music and Arts page. Abrams chatted with me from Louisville over Zoom. This is part one of a two-part column. The second will be published on Aug. 17.

EH: What are your current activities?

TA: We are planning the season for next year, which is taking a very complex form of what we call: “The Season of Innovation and of Public Service.” Continue reading Britt Festival Orchestra talks music in a new era