Artists expand community access with concerts and theatrical adaptations
Clarification: Sistrum's "Quiet Seeds, Wild Embers" performances will be at Riverwalk Theatre. The venue was changed because of an issue at the original space. The story has been updated.
Act I: Sistrum sings about identity and social justice in spring concert
Sistrum, an all-women’s choir, raises their voices this weekend to celebrate the themes that have resurfaced throughout their history. “Quiet Seeds, Wild Embers” will feature songs about the way lineage shapes identity, the sacrifices of elders, the need to preserve the earth and the fight for social justice.
Concerts are at 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at Riverwalk Theatre in Lansing. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students.
The music invites audiences to join the singers on a journey across time and regions.
One song dwells in Mesopotamia where a Sumerian priestess, Enheduanna, the earliest-known named author, called upon the goddess Inanna to vanquish her enemies in battle. Enheduanna, the high priestess of the moon god in Ur, is credited as the author of the Sumerian Temple Hymns.
From there, the Sistrum singers travel to 1980s Sudan where basket weavers are praying for rain to end their starvation. Other musical stops include Nicaragua with mothers singing lullabies and Moab and Bethlehem where the Bible’s Ruth pledged her loyalty to Naomi.
It’s a concert that pays tribute to the wisdom, wit and grit of female elders, remembers lost loved ones and honors women who have led resistance movements.
During intermission, the choir will sell prints by Lansing artist Melina Brann. She is an emerging acrylic painter who elevates Black women. In a press release, Brann said, “Growing up, and even now, I didn’t see people who looked like me represented in art and I wanted to change that. As a biracial woman, painting portraits of Black women is one of the ways I celebrate and connect with my ancestors and community.”
Act II: MSU students adapt children’s book to sensory friendly musical
Pets are important, especially if you are 7 and feeling a bit of anxiety about what might happen to a beloved cat.
The Michigan State University Department of Theatre’s Sense-Ability Ensemble is bringing a musical adaptation of “What If Wilhelmina” to the East Lansing Art Festival stage on Ann Street Plaza at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The Ensemble’s artistic director, Dionne O’Dell, an MSU Department of Theatre faculty member, adapted Joseph Belisle’s book by the same name into a musical for children. It is a true story about 7-year-old Faith, who becomes frightened and anxious when her cat, Wilhelmina, goes missing. With puppets, music and movement, she learns coping skills and how to deal with her worry.
It’s a show designed for neurodiverse audiences of all ages and for neurotypical audiences up to age 8.
The Sense-Ability Ensemble is dedicated to creating innovative, multi-sensory, interactive theatrical experiences.
Belisle will be present at the event to sign book copies, which can be purchased at the performance. There will be ASL interpretation at each show.
Encore!
The Lansing Symphony Orchestra holds its final chamber series concert of the season at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Lansing at 3 p.m. Sunday. The Wind Quintet will perform pieces from Valerie Coleman, Paquito D’Rivera, August Klughardt, Gyorgy Liegeti and Astor Piazzolla.
The Mason Philharmonic will be holding its spring concert at 6:15 p.m. Sunday at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in East Lansing. Their concert will include pieces by Holst, Vivaldi, Bach and Kondo.
Organist Renee Anne Louprette makes her East Lansing debut at the Alumni Memorial Chapel at 3 p.m. Sunday. An internationally recognized performer, she has played at Westminster Abbey and Temple Church in London, St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh and Ireland’s Galway Cathedral.
“Wicked” continues at Wharton Center until May 28, with Olivia Valli, the granddaughter of Four Season’s Frankie Valli, playing Elphaba and Celia Hottenstein as Glinda. The two raise the rafters with their sublime belting while supporting cast members create the complex and dangerous world of Oz.
There are 15 professional orchestras within 90 miles of Lansing. Here's why
Broadway backstage: A peek behind the curtain of ‘Wicked’ the musical at Wharton
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Sistrum choir, MSU Theatre's Sense-Ability Ensemble have shows planned
