New Seeds Festival brings socially empowered art
from female perspectives to Tampa
By John Fleming,
Times Performing Arts Critic
In Print: Thursday, March 22, 2012
Special to the Times
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The Resonance Project, pictured, is a world music quartet featured
during the first weekend of the second annual New Seeds Festival, held Friday
and Saturday and March 30-31 in Tampa in honor of Women's History Month. The
Sarasota-based quartet performs early sacred music of Spain, Africa, India and
Eastern Europe, ranging from Sephardic lullabies to Gregorian chant.
New Seeds has an eclectic mix of music, dance, poetry and comedy.
Dance performers include Tampa Bay Ballet, Jacksonville Dance, belly dancer
Cait Capaldi and Yulia Arakelyan, who performs in a wheelchair. Phyllis Gaines'
Sign of Da Times blends hip-hop and American Sign Language. Comedian Long
Island Mary "might remind you of someone you know, like your cousin or that
gal from work, if that gal has an incredibly twisted view of life," her
blurb says. Israa Khan is a singer-songwriter and guitarist of Indian heritage
who was born in Kuwait. Australian folk rocker Martine Locke, who has opened
for the likes of Ani DiFranco and the Cowboy Junkies, headlines the second
weekend.
The mission of the festival is "to present art from female
perspectives on socially relevant issues." It's produced by playwright
Suzanne Willett, whose Red Pepper, a new play about Claude Pepper, the former
U.S. Senator and Representative from Florida, was recently staged in the bay
area.
Performances begin at 7:30, with a different lineup nightly, at the
Bob Smith Black Box Theatre of Tampa Preparatory School, 727 W Cass St., Tampa.
The Resonance Project performs at 8:30 p.m. Friday. $15, $25 for a two-night
pass, $7 students. (813) 892-7502; newseedsfest.org.
John Fleming, Times performing arts critic
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