Last week we were delighted to perform another piece by Silicon Valley writer Betsy Miller, who also writes under the pen name Bethany Gray. Melinda Marks kicked off New Year Nouveau by reading her story “Collectibles.” We’ll be posting video from that performance over the next few weeks, though in the meantime you can watch the show in its entirety at South Bay Pulse’s YouTube page (see Part I and Part II).
Melinda Marks reads “Collectibles” by Betsy Miller at New Year Nouveau. Photo: Andrew Christian.
Bethany Gray writes stories about things just below the surface of your life that you can almost see out of the corner of your eye. Gray lives in Silicon Valley, where she also writes about passive-aggressive wireless equipment that wants you to think it’s your fault. But it’s totally not.
Publications, Honors or Awards:
Betsy Miller is the author of The Parents’ Guide to Perthes, The Parents’ Guide to Clubfoot, and The Parents’ Guide to Hip Dysplasia. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and in various magazines and publications.
Upcoming projects:
Betsy Miller, also known as Bethany Gray
I’ve recently started using the pen name Bethany Gray for my speculative fiction set it apart from my children’s health books. My story “Collectibles,” which was performed at Play On Words, is a Bethany Gray story that was edited a bit for length. You can read the full-length version online at Evil Girlfriend Media, where it was published as an EMG short. You can also read “The Language of the Dead” at Youth Imagination magazine. That’s a spooky story for teens that was published for Halloween. As 2016 unfolds, stay tuned for more Bethany Gray stories, and possibly a Betsy Miller book.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
I love seeing the actors bring stories and plays to life. The shows are a lot of fun.
Yes, you’re reading that right: You could be lucky enough to score discounted tickets to “The End of Time.” Intrigued?
Ryan Alpers and Julia Halprin Jackson read the prologue to “The End of Time” by Cellista at Cafe Strtich, January 6, 2016. Photo by Leo Alvarez.
Last week, at New Year Nouveau, we performed an excerpt of a piece written by Freya Seeburger (Cellista), a professional cellist, entrepreneur and performer based in San Jose. We were drawn to this piece because of its historical significance–it introduces the story of the “Quatuor pour la fin du Temps,” a historic quartet composed by Olivier Messiaen while held captive in a Nazi prisoner of war camp in 1941. Ryan Alpers and Julia Halprin Jackson read an excerpt of Cellista’s introduction to this famous piece of music, which she will be performing with the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble on February 20, March 12 and 13 at San Jose’s Anno Domini gallery.
Cellista
Why do we love Cellista’s work? In addition to being an accomplished musician, her performances tell stories. Freya often incorporates multimedia elements into her shows; she collaborates with amazing designers and artists, and through her work with Juxtapositions, creates opportunities for fellow working musicians. For the End of Time shows, she’ll be performing with violinist Ishtar Hernandez, clarinetist James Pytko, and pianist Naomi Stine. Not only that, but she invited American artist Barron Storey, publisher of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Chronicles, to create artwork inspired by Messiaen. This original work will be on display at Anno Domini starting February 5.
Also–you can now view the full footage of our January 6 show on South Bay Pulse’s YouTube channel. To see us perform an excerpt of Cellista’s work, watch Part II. We’ll be posting excerpts from this footage on the blog over the next month or two.
If you haven’t had a chance to see Cellista perform, this is your perfect opportunity. She’s offering a special discount on tickets to her February and March shows for Play On Words contributors and fans–but you have to act fast, because there are only 10 discounted tickets available. All you have to to is click here and enter the code “playonwords.”
Want to learn more about her work? Check out her blog to learn more about how she discovered Messiaen’s quartet, and why she feels that San Jose is the perfect place to perform his important work.
Well, Playonwordsians, we did it: we powered through New Year Nouveau. Thanks to everyone who joined us last night in person and online. We wanted to introduce you to one of our new contributors, Keiko O’Leary, whose piece, “The Golden Beauty of Carlina Johansen, Author of Milliner’s Dreams,” was performed last night by Alex Draa.
Keiko O’Leary
Keiko writes short stories, primarily flash fiction. She also organizes the almost-weekly writing group Write to the End. She is a co-founder of Thinking Ink Press.
Publications, Honors or Awards:
I’m proud to have participated in the Flash Fiction Forum’s first annual pubcrawl, where I read my flash piece “The Ghost of Ice Cream.” My story “White Mice” was also chosen for a Flash Fiction Forum. “White Mice” is available from Thinking Ink Press as a postcard that includes my original artwork Warning: Narrative Hazard. (Okay, I also make visual art. But shh! Don’t tell anyone.)
Upcoming projects:
Since 2004 I’ve organized Write to the End, a writing group that meets most Tuesday nights. Anyone is welcome. Please visit http://writetotheend.com for details on how to attend. There you can also read articles about writing by members of our group.
Thinking Ink Press is looking for submissions. We consider any length or genre, but I’m especially interested in flash pieces for our postcards and Instant Books, since I design those. (Instant Books are small books folded from a single sheet of paper. They’re so exciting! Have you seen the one we did for Betsy Miller’s Play On Words story “Bees”?) Please see our call for submissions and our flash fiction publishing formats.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
I love things like Play On Words. I found out about Play On Words because Thinking Ink Press launched the Instant Book of Betsy Miller’s “Bees” at Take Flight when Adam Magill read “Bees.”
And I’ll tell you a secret: When I was revising “Carlina Johansen,” I imagined it being performed, and I made my decisions with performance in mind. Seeing a Play On Words show inspired me to do that.
Which writers or performers inspire you?
It took me years to figure out that lead roles in Kate & Leopold, X-Men, and The Prestige were all played by the same actor: Hugh Jackman. I saw him in performance at the Curran Theatre, and even though I was in the VERY BACK row of a completely sold out house, the experience was like having coffee one-on-one. Now that’s skill! I aspire to write as well, and as intimately, as Hugh Jackman performs.
As for writers, I’ll mention Julio Cortázar. I read him in Spanish, and he writes like he’s making love to the reader. His command of syntax is insane – he can control you completely just by the structure of his sentences. I don’t know what the English translations are like, but he has a great (flash fiction!) piece called “Continuidad de los parques” (translated as “Continuity of Parks”). One of my favorite longer pieces is “La autopista del sur” (translated as “The Southern Thruway”).
Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.
I read Waiting for Godot in high school, and do I dare say I fell in love? I’ve since seen a few performances, and it always makes me laugh and feel understood, and it leaves me completely obsessed with the text. Even though I haven’t read or seen it for years, little phrases bubble up into my life from time to time: “A country road. A tree. Evening.” “There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.” The funniest part is where Pozzo makes Lucky “think” and Lucky spouts all sorts of repetitive and disjointed but conceptually connected phrases that seem to follow the structure of some sort of a logical argument. Just the rhythm of it is enough to cause uncontrollable giggling. I know there’s a lot of meaning to be found in that speech, but it’s also just plain fun. I’m sure Beckett had a blast writing that part.
Thank you for the opportunity to think about these things I love. I can’t wait to reread the pieces I’ve mentioned here. And I can’t wait to see the next Play On Words!
Want to join the conversation? Sign up for our new email newsletter, tweet us, catch up on Instagram…and if you see us in San Jose we’ll usually accept a high five.
The rain might be coming, San Jose, but you know what else is? New Year Nouveau, our first show of 2016. We’re delighted to share our lineup for tonight’s performance, which starts at 7pm at Cafe Stritch:
ACT ONE:
“Not the Madonna” – Allison Landa, read by Nita Lambert
“Suck it Up” – Tania Martin, read by Ivette Deltoro
“Indra’s Low Sodium-Oxide Streetlights” by Gary Singh, read by Ryan Alpers
“Land of the Thunder Dragon” – Sarah Lyn Rogers, read by Ivette Deltoro
“Van Tribe: Free Medical” – Rick Alpers, read by Brian Van Winkle
“Compassion: the Essence of Nursing” – Lita Kurth, read by Melinda Marks
“A Girl in Pink” – Christine Keating, read by Taylor Sanders, Alex Draa, Brian Van Winkle and Ryan Alpers
INTERMISSION
ACT TWO
“The Night Subway Crawl” – Pratibha Kelapure, read by Taylor Sanders
“Collectibles” – Betsy Miller, read by Melinda Marks
“The Golden Beauty of Carlina Johansen” – Keiko O’Leary, read by Alex Draa
“Van Tribe: Dudley & Donnie” – Rick Alpers, read by Brian Van Winkle
“End of Time” – Freya Seeburger (Cellista), read by Julia Halprin Jackson and Ryan Alpers
“Fabulous Water Sports” – Roy Proctor, read by Jeremy Ryan and Ryan Alpers
For our online fans and friends around the world, we invite you to tune in to our live-stream channel, provided courtesy of the fabulous online and print magazine South Bay Pulse, at 7pm Pacific Standard Time. Intrigued? It’s easy as one, two, click:
South Bay Pulse was founded by journalists and graduate students at San Jose State University. Not only do they write great stories–they’ve mastered the art of live-streaming events such as CineQuest, and their YouTube channel hosts all kinds of great content, such as lectures from the Santa Cruz Music Festival, the SubZERO Festival, and interviews with Silicon Valley Artists. We’re delighted to be working with them on New Year Nouveau.
Bottom line: you’ve got no excuse to miss out on all the greatness that is headed your way. We can’t wait to share the work of our writers and artists. Grab a specialty cocktail at Cafe Stritch’s great bar, try out their spicy macaroni and cheese, drop us a few bucks at the door and prepare yourself for New Year Nouveau. See you there.
What do you get when you combine classical music, community organizing, a real passion for the arts, and savvy business sense? In a word: Cellista, also known as Freya Seeburger. Fans of San Jose’s The Commons might have seen this remarkable cellist performing downtown over the last few years–or gracing the stage at SubZERO fest, South First Fridays, and any number of venues in the Bay Area and beyond. This week we are delighted to share an excerpt of Cellista’s latest work, an introduction to “The End of Time,” a piece that was originally performed in a World War II prisoner of war camp–and one that she will be performing, alongside the Juxtapositions ensemble, this spring in San Jose’s Anno Domini gallery. We hope you can join us this Wednesday at Cafe Stritch for New Year Nouveau to see her monologue performed live.
Cellista
Since moving to downtown San Jose, California in 2010, Cellistahas been actively involved in SJ’s vibrant arts scene as a performer as well as arts enabler both participating in and organizing community-based projects. Her arts-based company Juxtapositions reflects her love of San Jose and the entire Bay Area. Cellista aims to foster new audiences, and stages for the arts by presenting performances that promote inter-arts collaboration, innovative programming, and community dialogues facilitated by artists themselves.
Cellista is a noted performer. She has recorded and performed with independent rock, hip hop, and classical groups including Van Dyke Parks, The Awesöme Orchestra Collective, Grammy-nominated artist Tanya Donelly, and The Coup (as a member of Classical Revolution) as well as Casey Cresenzo of The Dear Hunter.
Cellista’s penchant for performing music in unconventional spaces, and her devotion to collaborating with artists across mediums has led her to create unique performances that incorporate elements of classical music, improvisation, and visual art.
Her debut solo album Finding San Jose will be released in Fall of 2016.
Publications, Honors or Awards:
Cellista’s musicological research writing, focused on interdisciplinary topics in music, including French composer Olivier Messiaen’s “Quatuor pour la fin du Temps,” earned her a panelist position at the 4th annual College of Liberal Arts Graduate Student Symposium (CLAGS) at the University of Nevada, Reno, as well as SFSU’s “Otey” award for research writing. In April of 2015, she presented her paper, “The End of Time,” as an invited speaker at the University of Calgary’s graduate music symposium.
She is the recipient of the Nagel’s scholarship and a Bell Foundation grant awardee.
She is a recently appointed member of the San Jose Arts Commission.
She studies with cellist Jennifer Culp (SFCM, Kronos Quartet), and members of the Alexander String Quartet.
Upcoming projects:
I will be performing Messiaen’s “The End of Time” with the Juxtapositions ensemble on February 20, March 12 and 13 at Anno Domini gallery in San Jose. As part of this unique installation, I proposed the idea of creating artwork inspired by Messiaen to the artist Barron Storey. His work will be on display at Anno Domini starting February 5. You can join us for the opening on February 5 or click here to buy tickets for our February 20, March 12 and 13 performances.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
Julia is my rad neighbor.
Which writers or performers inspire you?
Anais Nin’s life was a performance that inspires me. Ferlinghetti. The writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.
Illuminations by Rimbaud opened the gateway for some pretty angsty teen years and a whole life of good art making.
As a reminder, our January 6 show will be collecting $5 donations at the door. We also will be live-streaming this show with South Bay Pulse–stay tuned to learn more!
At Play On Words, we love it when we meet writers we love who, in turn, introduce us to writers they love. We call it the transitive power of awesomeness. We learned about Marilyn Horn-Fahey’s work through San Jose’s Flash Fiction Forum, and were delighted to perform a few of her flash fiction pieces last summer at our Words & Music show. We’re delighted to read her piece, “Neighbor,” this Wednesday at New Year Nouveau at Cafe Stretch. We hope you can join us.
Marilyn is a technical editor in Silicon Valley.
Marilyn Horn-Fahey
Publications, Honors or Awards:
My stories have appeared in Switchback, Fine Linen and Marathon Review, among others. Learn more at marilynhornwriting.com.
As a reminder, our January 6 show will be collecting $5 donations at the door. We also will be live-streaming this show with South Bay Pulse–stay tuned to learn more!
Play On Words has a proud history of producing Gary Singh’s funny, absurd, language-rich poems in bars, parks and restaurants around San Jose. If you read the Metro, you know Gary. If you’ve been to an Earthquakes soccer game, you know Gary. If you’ve been to any interesting festival, performance, show or cultural event in Silicon Valley, chances are you’ve met Gary. We’re delighted to perform “Indra’s Low Sodium-Oxide Streetlights” at New Year Nouveau, January 6 at San Jose’s Cafe Stritch. We hope you can join us.
Gary Singh
Gary is an award-winning travel journalist with a music degree who publishes poetry, paints and exhibits photographs. As a scribe, he’s published nearly 1000 works including newspaper columns, travel essays, art and music criticism, profiles, business journalism, lifestyle articles, poetry and short fiction. His poems have been published in The Pedestal Magazine, Dirty Chai, Maudlin House and more. For 540 straight weeks, his newspaper columns have appeared in Metro, the alternative weekly paper of San Jose and Silicon Valley. Currently, he is the author of The San Jose Earthquakes: A Seismic Soccer Legacy (2015, The History Press). The poem we are producing in January was previously published at Three and a half point 9.
As a reminder, our January 6 show will be collecting $5 donations at the door. We also will be live-streaming this show with South Bay Pulse–stay tuned to learn more!
San Jose writers likely already know the lovely Lita Kurth, local writer, teacher and co-creator of the fabulous Flash Fiction Forum. We were delighted to produce her work last summer at Cafe Stritch (if you haven’t seen it yet, you need to watch Melinda Marks’ reading of “Bride”), and are excited to perform her comic piece, “Compassion: The Essence of Nursing,” January 6 at New Year Nouveau.
Lita Kurth
Lita (MFA Pacific Lutheran University) has had work published in Fjords Review, Brain,Child, Main Street Rag, Tikkun, NewVerseNews, Blast Furnace, ellipsis…literature and art, Compose, Redux, Raven Chronicles, Tattoo Highway, Composite Arts, Verbatim Poetry, the Santa Clara Review, Gyroscope Review, Vermont Literary Review, DNA, and others.
Her CNF, “Pivot,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her CNF “This is the Way We Wash the Clothes,” presented at the Working Class Studies conference, 2012, won the 2014 Diana Woods Memorial Award (summer-fall 2014) and appeared in Lunchticket 2014. She contributes to Tikkun.org/tikkundaily, TheReviewReview.net, and classism.org.
In 2013, she co-founded the Flash Fiction Forum, a reading series in San Jose. Learn more about her in this recent profile in the San Jose Metro.
Upcoming projects:
Upcoming on January 13th is another Flash Fiction Forum, 7 PM Works Gallery in wonderful downtown San Jose!
I also teach private multi-genre workshops and online four-week flash fiction courses–learn more at Lita Kurth Writing Workshops.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
I loved the idea as soon as I heard about it. Such fun to see another creative person bring a piece to life that I’ve written.
Which writers or performers inspire you?
Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce. Just kidding, sort of. My inspirations are too numerous to list but a sampling includes the Rachel Field poetry of childhood, Robert Louis Stevenson, Tolstory, Flaubert, Irish writer Jamie O’Neill, E. Annie Proulx, and Zadie Smith.
This January we are delighted to bring back Bay Area playwright Christine Keating, author of “Girl in Pink,” which we’ll be showcasing January 6 at San Jose’s Cafe Stritch. Play On Words fans might remember Christine’s biting play, “Misery Olympics,” from our Spring Fling show in 2014.
Christine Keating. Photo by Grace Kinder
Christine is a playwright and director living in San Francisco. Her directing work includes productions with Those Women Productions and Santa Clara University, and readings with Magic Theatre, SF Playground, Custom Made Theatre, and TheatreWorks’ YPP. Writing credits include SF Olympians, Pint-Sized Plays, Theater Pub, Shotz, and Magic Theatre. She is the Director of New Works (The Forge) at Quantum Dragon Theatre. Look at her face and read things from her brain at www.KeatingMarie.com.
What inspired you to participate in Play On Words?
The awesome mix of material, both in form and content. You never know what you’re going to get, it opens up my mind a little more every time I see the show!
Name a book or performance that fundamentally affected you.
As a reminder, our January 6 show will be collecting $5 donations at the door. We also will be live-streaming this show with South Bay Pulse–stay tuned to learn more!
Play On Words 