Artword Artbar

Artword Artbar Sept 4, 2019, Ronald Weihs and Judith Sandiford. Photo Cathy Coward Hamilton Spectator

Announced September 4, 2019: News (Big News!): We’ve sold Artword Artbar. Our lovely place on Colbourne Street. This fall will be our last! And it will be a blast! So don’t be downcast. Don’t look aghast. Just get here real fast.
We’ve been doing this for ten years, and it’s time to celebrate. This fall, we’re featuring some of the musicians that have been through the journey with us. We’ll be going like always until November 16, when The Hill Brothers Bluegrass Band will be serenading us out with some lovely harmonies and ultra-fancy picking. (Due to demand, we’ve added a second Hill Brothers show on November 17 at 3 pm.)
And then, starting December 5, 2019, 15 Colbourne Street will become the new home of SMPL Architectural Design Studio. Click here for a very cool artist’s conception of the SMPL vision for the building. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2CqxzPAp8K/

What happened?  Read more…

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Artword Artbar at 15 Colbourne is closed from November 18 to December 4, 2019, while we clear out the restaurant equipment and our theatre gear. The new owners of the building take possession on December 5, 2019.

Is there Artword life after December 5?
YES! The Artword Theatre folks, Ron and Judith, continue to live in Hamilton and will create theatre projects and workshops in various venues (to be determined.)

Stay in touch! To receive Ron’s email Newsletter and find out what the Artword Theatre folks will be up to next, send an email to Ronald Weihs <rweihs@artword.net>

We will also revive the Artword Theatre blog with news and new projects:  artword.net/artwordtheatre/

Event, News, Theatre

Sunday, August 25 to Wednesday September 11, 2019:  CLOSED
Fall programming starts up Thursday September 12, 2019

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Private event on Wednesday April 24, not open to the public.

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From Dec 16, 2018 to Feb 6, 2019, Artword Artbar will be closed.
Programming resumes from Thurs February 7, 2019. Watch the website for programming updates for February and March 2019.

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Steel City Jazz Festival, 2018. Wednesday October 24, 8:00 pm. Smordin Law Artist-in-Residence Series – Heather Bambrick Quartet. Join vocalist Heather Bambrick (JUNO / ECMA Nominee) and her all-star quartet (Adrean Farrugia, Ross MacIntyre, and Colleen Allen) for this show that will be musical, funny, and highly entertaining.  https://www.heatherbambrick.ca/
Artword Artbar, $15/$10 for students.
https://steelcityjazzfest.com/

Event, News, Steel City Jazz Festival

Wednesday October 10, 2018, 8 pm, $10/pwyc. Our friends Water Bear (songwriters Tom Dusome & Alex T.) are back. “We write songs about resistance, resilience, and home.”
https://waterbear.bandcamp.com

Plus a guest set by The Do-Gooders: Dan Murray guitar/vocals,
Stu Gritter guitar/vocals, and Geoff Ball guitar/vocals.

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Closed from Monday July 30 until Tuesday September 11, 2018. Programming starts up on Wednesday September 12, 2018.

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Tuesday March 27, 2018, 7 to 10 pm. The Annual General Meeting of the Hamilton Fringe Festival.

Event, Hamilton Fringe Theatre Fest, News, Special event

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Closed Dec 17, 2017 to Feb 2, 2018. First show Sat Feb 3. February events are now posted. For inquiries, email: artword @artword.net

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Review by Doreen Nicoll on rabble.ca

‘Langston Hughes vs. Joe McCarthy’ should be touring the country

Doreen Nicoll, July 30, 2017

http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/change-gonna-come/2017/07/langston-hughes-vs-joe-mccarthy-should-be-touring-country

There’s no doubt about it, history is cyclical. Those well versed in history see the proverbial writing on the wall. Unfortunately, those who choose to remain ignorant, or perhaps worse, those who believe they are untouchable, can set the world on a path that is well worn, all too familiar, and often dangerous.

July 29th, the curtain went down for the final time on the Hamilton Fringe production Langston Hughes vs. Joe McCarthy: Is Poetry Subversive? Set at the height of McCarthyism when, as director Ronald Weihs writes in his director’s statement, “There was a massive effort underway in the United State to communicate a crude vision of ‘The American Way,’ and to brand ideas ‘Un-American.’ People were taught to be frightened of their own thoughts, to repress them or keep them hidden.”

During the 1920’s and 30’s, Harlem became a beacon of hope for freedom of expression to African American scholars and artists. This newfound voice was demanding civil liberties and political rights. Hughes was an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance which gave birth to jazz poetry. It was this poetry that would make Hughes a person of interest.

On March 24, 1953 James Mercer Langston Hughes, African American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist was called before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. And so the play begins.

Republican Senator Everett Dirksen and attorney Roy Cohn originally interrogated Hughes, but Weihs successfully embodies the men in one domineering character. The interrogator, clearly Hughes’s intellectual inferior, tries unsuccessfully to get Hughes to admit his poems contain subversive political messages. Read more…

News

REVIEW: ‘LANGSTON HUGHES VS. JOE MCCARTHY’
at the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival

https://artsallydotcom.wordpress.com/2017/07/27/review-langston-hughes-vs-joe-mccarthy-at-the-2017-hamilton-fringe-festival/

Ron Weihs’ play, ‘Langston Hughes vs Joe McCarthy,’ now gets a full production as part of the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival. This two man play digs deeply into a very dark period of American History that remains shameful to us today, although with the polarization and division in the United States in the era of Donald Trump, its relevancy is clear.

The script itself is based upon actual testimony given when Harlem poet Langston Hughes was called to testify before Congress during the Communist ‘witch hunts’ of the early 1950s. Read more…

News

“…a truly enchanting hour showcasing some of Hughes’ moving, political, and still frighteningly relevant poetry.”

2017 HAMILTON FRINGE FESTIVAL MINI REVIEW FROM CENTRE STAGE WITH LYLA MIKLOS ON 101.5 FM THE HAWK

This Fringe show was a real gem and a pleasant surprise. Writer/Director Ronald Weihs takes us back to 1953 when Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes was summoned by infamous Senator Joseph McCarthy to speak to the Senate Committee on Investigations. Combining projected pictures from the era, jazz music, movement and two amazing actors Weihs transports his audience into both a frightening and inspiring time and place. A time and place that reminds us of the fragility of our democracies as we still so easily allow ideological demagogues to take away our collective powers.

What makes this production really sing is when Learie Mc Nicolls brings to life the words of Langston Hughes. More than once the audience would burst into spontaneous applause at the end of one his powerful recitations. Not only did his voice bounce off the walls, but his feet and body were bouncing and moving all over the stage. Mc Nicolls was utterly captivating to experience and witness in this fully realized performance. The counter point to his poignant energy was the brittle intensity that Howard Jerome brought to his role as the nefarious McCarthy. Read more…

Hamilton Fringe Theatre Fest, News, Theatre