Join us for Spare A Dime on April 18, 19, and 20, 2013!
Get your tickets today!
Spare A Dime's projected sets unite city residents, past and present. Illustrations by artist Steve Teare animated by designer Gerardo McGarity-Alegrett create projected backdrops for Spare A Dime singers, while photographic replicas by city residents create visual counterparts to audio stories. We call this corner store our dimestore, where the character of The Merchant sings Pocket of Blues, a song describing the Great Depression. The Builder later joins her here to sing a duet, Change in the Making – look for a WPA poster to appear in the window!
Join us for Spare A Dime on April 18, 19, and 20, 2013! Get your tickets today!
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Spare A Dime animated images bring the urban environment to life. Illustrations by artist Steve Teare animated by designer Gerardo McGarity-Alegrett create projected backdrops for Spare A Dime singers. This cityscape appears as the character of The Builder sings Foundation of Hope, a song about searching for a job and for hope in a time of economic crisis.
Join us for Spare A Dime on April 18, 19, and 20, 2013! Get your tickets today! Community members step into the shoes of their 1930s counterparts. COSACOSA constituents citywide recreated historical photos for each Spare A Dime character as visual accompaniments to our audio stories of the Great Depression. Above, William Hilton, master craftsman and builder from North Philadelphia's Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood, recreates an image of of The Builder from Spare A Dime after the founding of the Works Progress Administration.
See all the photos we've created. Get your tickets to Spare A Dime today at www.pifa.org/events/10! Community members step into the shoes of their 1930s counterparts. As visual counterparts to the audio stories played in-between each song of the Spare A Dime cycle, COSACOSA constituents from around the city recreated the historical photos on which each character is based. Above, William Hilton, master craftsman and builder from North Philadelphia's Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood, recreates the historical stance of The Builder from Spare A Dime (before the founding of the Works Progress Administration, of course). Check back tomorrow to see his recreation of the post-WPA image of The Builder. And get your tickets to Spare A Dime today at www.pifa.org/events/10!
Spare A Dime's community stories create Gardens of Liberty. For over a year, COSACOSA youth, artists, and staff have collected stories of the Great Depression and our current "Great Recession" from community residents citywide. These interviews created the taproot of Spare A Dime, defining the project's characters and anchoring the storyline through their powerful interplay of hope and hopelessness in times of crisis. This summer, thanks to the support from the Knight Arts Challenge, the Kresge Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Union Benevolent Association, and other generous funders, these collected stories will also find a home in a new series of Site and Sound Gardens we're is creating with community members in North Philadelphia. Transforming abandoned lots into "sacred" spaces for our city neighborhoods, the new Gardens join COSACOSA's existing Healing Garden. The Gardens will feature two- and three-dimensional visual art plus temporary sound art exhibitions, including stories, songs, and poetry by neighborhood residents. Visit COSACOSA's website, www.cosacosa.org, for upcoming dates and times to volunteer to help create and maintain the Site and Sound Gardens. You can also read about the Gardens and other community-building efforts in the recently published Philadelphia edition of US Airways magazine! Best of all, hear our collected stories as part of Spare A Dime on April 18, 19, and 20, 2013! Get your tickets today! Menu Mondays | Something from Nothing: Thrifty Foods from the 1930s Growing up during the Great Depression, school lunches were scant, to say the least. Food taken to school had to be relatively non-perishable, fit in a tin pail or a child-size pocket, and keep you satisfied until supper. Here's a list of common Depression-era tin pail sandwiches: Baked Bean Sandwiches Lard Sandwiches Onion and Mustard Sandwiches Goose Fat Sandwiches Sugar Sandwiches Bacon Grease Sandwiches Fried Potato Peel Sandwiches Ketchup Sandwiches Tomato Sandwiches Recipe: Put whatever's available between two slices of bread, and go. During the Great Depression, being fooled (into feeling full) didn't just happen on April 1! What happened this week in 1935? RADAR was patented.
Early radar systems could locate aircraft from a distance of 8 miles; by the start of World War II that range had increased twelve-fold. Radar proved to be a important tool for the British Royal Air Force to defend against attacks from the German Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. After the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Watson-Watt helped the United States develop its own radar defenses. A direct descendent of James Watt, creator of the steam engine, Watson-Watt literally was a born inventor.
A talented bevy of singers celebrates the WPA with songs of work and democracy. Brielle Leary, soprano Leary graduated from the Philadelphia Creative and Performing Arts High School as a vocal major and was a member of the all city choir for four years. She has sung in countless concerts and musicals, as well as performing for many church events and community shows. Under the direction of Victor Rodriguez, Leary appears regularly in musical series at the Rotunda. She recently graduated from Jean Madeline Aveda Institute, soon to be licensed with her own beauty hair care salon. "I'm a life-long singer," Leary said, "I will sing anywhere, anytime!" Andi Rose, soprano Rose equates singing with marriage...'til death do us part! She was bitten by the singing bug at the age of five when a woman at her school sang “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands." Musical theater is Rose's favorite performance style, and her numerous leading roles include Maria in West Side Story and Annie in Annie Get Your Gun. For three seasons she was a cast member of Lafferty’s Wake at Society Hill Playhouse. She recently performed Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado with the acclaimed Savoy Company. Rose is a proud member of Screen Actors Guild. She is happy to be working with Victor again and is thrilled to be a part of the Chorus of Liberty. She quotes Calvin Coolidge, "The test of our progress is not whether we add to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough to those who have little." Donnie Hammond, alto Hammond always wanted to be a performer; her mother laughingly claims she could dance before she could walk. Hammond graduated from Bishop McDevitt High School and spent one year in college before she decided to work at her chosen craft full time. She has appeared with in Philadelphia venues including at the Society Hill Playhouse in Motherhood: The Musical and at the Prince Theater in Jamaica. She was featured in the German tour of the Original U.S.A. Gospel Singers. "I love singing and playing different people," Hammond said, "so musical theater is what I always enjoy the most." Sherria Watts, alto Sherria Watts, Philadelphia native is no stranger to the stage. She has appeared in numerous musical theater productions including Grease (Rizzo), Hair (Dionne), and Alice in Wonderland (the Duchess). Watts holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Theater from West Chester University where she was a starring member of a finalist team participating in the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival. Watts has taught dance and musical theater throughout the region and now uses her skills as the Children's Program Coordinator for a major martial arts company in the Delaware Valley. "I'm excited for this project," Watts said, "and for the opportunity to perform again." A talented bevy of singers celebrates the WPA with songs of work and democracy. Joanne Joella, contralto Joella is a voice acting and voice development coach and founder of JoellaArts Voice and Speech at Sherman Mills in East Falls. Over the years, she has been a consultant for Philadelphia Magazine, Men’s Health, Phillyfit Magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer as well as appearing on Marty Moss-Coan’s Radio Times an expert on Philadelphia regional sounds and accent reduction. Joanne has also performed in various Musical Theater productions throughout the region and has fronted or lent her powerful vocals to an array of rock bands. “Being part of Spare A Dime is an opportunity of a lifetime to feel the virtual presence of the history of my parents and grandparents," Joella said. "I know more about myself, my family, my country, and what my future may hold. Words cannot express how awesome it is to perform in the Bok High School Auditorium and to know that the spirit we honor was the force behind the creation of the Bok. Thank you, Brothers and Sisters of the WPA! We will share your time.” For more information about classes and private coaching at JoellaArts, please visit her website, www.joellaarts.com Brian S. Rothman, tenor Rothman is a second grade teacher at Forrest Elementary School. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from Albright University and a Master of Elementary Education from Holy Family University. Brian has been performing in regional community theater for more years than he would like to count. Favorite roles over the years have been in Little Shop of Horrors (The Dentist), The Fantasticks (Matt), Once Upon a Mattress (Prince Dauntless), Honk! (Ugly), Beauty and the Beast (Cogsworth), The Drowsy Chaperone (Feldzieg), Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? (Louie), Grease (Kenickie), Annie (Oliver Warbucks), Cabaret (Cliff), and Godspell (Judas). When not performing or teaching, Brian spends time training his Australian shepherds, Beezie and Topper, and his Dachshund, Tawney. "Thanks to all my friends and family for their support over the years, especially Victor Rodgriguez for getting him involved with Spare A Dime! Spread Kindness..." Bruce Fero, baritone Fero is a member and soloist in the Philadelphia Gospel Seminar Choir and One Faith Gospel Music Ministry. A resident of Philadelphia's Olney neighborhood, he is also active in the choir at St. Paul's Evangelical Church. Among his extensive musical theater credits are performances in Come Blow Your Horn, Gypsy, The Chalk Garden, and The Azuza Street Revival. Fero is also a veteran, having served in the United States Air Force in England. He shared his stories for Spare A Dime's character of The Veteran, and helped COSACOSA staff recreate modern-day versions of WPA photographs of veterans. "When politicians didn't (or don't) care," Fero said, "change needs to come from within our communities, from people working and struggling for something better." Gary Bullock, bass Bullock has been singing in organized choirs since he was in third grade (sometime during the Harding Administration), and is presently a bass in the St. George’s Episcopal Church Choir, where he began over fifty years ago. In recent years, he has appeared in a significant number of local theater productions including Macbeth (Banquo), Cabaret (Herr Schultz), Adrift in Macao (Mitch), Don’t Drink the Water (Krojak), Jesus Christ Superstar (Bartholomew), and Sweeney Todd. "Many thanks to Kim, Victor, and particularly Joanne Joella for the confidence to include him in this wonderful production. As always, special thanks to the Bullock family for their love and support, especially Marlee, for whom I have been a work in progress for thirty-four years and without whom none of this would be possible. Life is a journey, not a destination.” PIFA 2013 launched today with the theme "Where will you #timetravel2?" The 15 minute mini-musical "Flash of Time" plays nightly through the festival at the Kimmel Center. Check out Spare A Dime vocalist Julian Coleman at the front of the top platform!
We'll finish up our artist posts this week with profiles of our Chorus of Liberty members. Then, follow us next week as we begin to build our set at the historic Bok Tech Theater and start tech and dress rehearsals! Click here to get your tickets to Spare A Dime today! |
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