'This Art is for the Birds' invites community to collaborate on theater event

On July 22 and 23, Artful Cleveland will showcase its first original outdoor community theater presentation, "This Art is for the Birds," in Coventry PEACE Park. The outdoor theater piece is being created in the tradition of Greek comedies, complete with its own chorus, and backed up by the reggae band No Bad Days.

To make this happen, Artful needs the help of the community.

Beginning June 3 and continuing through July 14, Artful will host a four-week series of seven half-day summer camps for 10- to 16-year-olds.

For families with children 6 and older, Artful offers a series of five family workshops.

And for those who are single, or a couple without young ones, Artful offers workshops for them as well.

A team of Cleveland-area artists, skilled in a variety of mediums, are creating the narration of the play and the text for the chorus, and guiding the camps and workshops. They include Eric Coble, playwright; Raja Freeman, poet; and Story Rhinehart Cadiz and Diana Sette, interdisciplinary artists.

They will take turns leading participants through the creation their own bird headpieces and costumes, enabling them to join the bird flocks that will be featured in the play.

The half-day camps are divided into age groups, 10–12 years and 13–16 years, and run from 9 a.m. to noon or 1–4 p.m. Some camps focus on writing, others focus on creating the headpieces and designing costumes and props. Workshops for families and adults, similar in format, are scheduled for evenings and weekends.

The week before the performance, camp is open and free to anyone who participated in the earlier camps and workshops, to enable them to finish any incomplete masks, costumes or props. Evenings will be reserved for rehearsals.

Camp and workshop fees are minimal, and financial aid is available. Artful wants everyone who is interested to be able to participate.

A detailed schedule for all camps and workshops can be found at artfulcleveland.org, and on the Facebook pages for Artful, Art Acts, and Robin VanLear. For more information, send an e-mail to artacts_ltd@outlook.com.

Robin VanLear

Robin VanLear is the founder of Art Acts studio and a member of Artful Cleveland. She will be leading some of the workshops mentioned in the article.

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Volume 16, Issue 6, Posted 9:24 AM, 05.30.2023