Color Theory: The Art of Color at the Cherry Center
2019-05-17 16:00 - 2019-06-15 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Color Theory, an exhibit exploring the application of color in paintings by Lucas Blok and Mel Prest, opens Friday, May 17th at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. A reception for the artists will be held at the center from 4 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The exhibition examines the use of color from two separate, but related, perspectives: the large vibrant color fields of Monterey’s Lucas Blok and Mel Prest, a non-objective San Francisco painter whose work focuses on color and perceptual visual relationships.
Color Theory can be seen Wednesday through Friday from 11 to 4 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment through June 15th, 2019.
Pictured, top: “Untitled” – Lucas Blok

Lucas Blok has an established interest in color. His paintings are absorbing experiments in visual perception as he works with vibrant and intensely saturated hues that become a uniquely involved experience for each individual spectator. Mr. Blok was awarded the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for 2011-2012, which recognizes and generously supports his artistic merit as a professional artist over a significant period of time.

“17 Seconds” – Mel Prest
Mel Prest is an artist, curator and educator living in San Francisco. She received her BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from Mills College in Oakland.
Her work is focused on color and perceptual visual relationships and synaesthetic response. Her work is held in collections at Apple; The Crocker Museum of Art; Kaiser Permanente; The Mills College Art Museum, among others.

Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards
2019-05-04 14:00 - 16:00 | CA
A reading and awards ceremony honoring the student poets will be held 2:00PM on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 at the Monterey Public Library, 625 Pacific Street, Monterey. During the event, student poets will receive an anthology featuring their award-winning works; certificate of merit; cash prize; and book of poetry. Family members, teachers, fellow students, and the public are welcome to attend.

The Robert Campbell Monterey County High School Poetry Awards are held each year in conjunction with the Carl Cherry Center’s high school art exhibition, Thinking Out Loud.

Dick Whittington and Friends
2019-04-27 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Celebrated jazz pianist Dick Whittington will be performing on Saturday, April 27th, from 3:00-5:00 p.m. as part of our ongoing Jazz At The Cherry series. Dick will be joined by Jim Payne on drums and Kenoa Mendenhall on bass.
Tickets are $25, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. Savory fare, champagne and wine are included in the ticket price. Doors open at 2:00pm.

About Dick Whittington:
Whittington, a long-time Big Sur resident, began his career in Los Angeles in the 1950s, playing with such jazz notables as Dexter Gordon, Bobby Hutcherson, and Sonny Criss. After relocating to Berkeley in the 1960s, he performed with Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, James Moody, Anita O’Day, Mel Torme, Bobby McFerrin and many others. He was co-founder of the Berkeley School District Jazz Program which fostered the careers of Joshua Redman, Benny Green and dozens of others.
Over the last five decades, DIck has performed with many jazz greats, including Stan Getz, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Art Pepper, Eddie Harris, and Chet Baker. In 1987, Dick and his wife Marilyn Ross founded the Maybeck Recital Hall, where, for ten years, they lived and produced over five hundred jazz and classical concerts, including the internationally-acclaimed “Live at Maybeck” solo piano series on Concord Records, which features over forty-five of the top pianists in jazz. Since moving to Big Sur, Dick played four years at Bernardus Lodge and has been at Carmel’s Cypress Inn since 2005.

About Kanoa Mendenhall:
Born in Yokohama to a Japanese mother and American father, Kanoa was raised in Monterey, California and grew up listening to jazz, enka, classical, and the music of Brazil. She started playing the cello at age 10 after being introduced to Oscar Pettiford’s music by her father, a jazz pianist. At the age of 12, Kanoa began playing the upright bass, and by age 13 she was regularly performing in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas

Kanoa has worked on the faculty of Jazz Camp West and Stanford Jazz Workshop for the past three years. She has performed at venues throughout the United States and Japan, such as the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Davies Symphony Hall, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Akasaka B Flat, the Jazz Gallery, and the Monterey Jazz Festival.

About Jim Payne:

Labeled the “Buddy Rich or Billy Cobham of funk drumming” by Jazz Times Magazine, Jim Payne has a long career as a drummer, educator, producer, and collaborator with the best musicians in jazz and funk.
Jim has performed with Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Slickaphonics, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and The Jim Payne Band, among many others. His performance venues have included major European and U.S. jazz and blues festivals, including Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Paris Jazz Festival.

Hot House: An Exhibit of Botanicals
2019-04-05 17:00 - 2019-05-04 16:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Hot House, an exhibit of botanicals celebrating the abundance of spring, opens April 5th at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts. A reception for the artists will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and the public is invited.
“Flora 24” – Stacy Frank
This exhibit is a euphoric visual landscape of flora and fauna, featuring a range of media—works strong in color, eccentric in design, and loaded with enthralling details. Media used to create botanical paintings include watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, oil, and graphite. Botanical art is a centuries old art form that has a long and colorful history dating back to the 1400s BCE. With the advent of photography, botanical art was dormant for nearly a century but saw a rebirth in the latter part of the 1900s.
Artists include Kamille Corry, Stacy Frank, Frank Galuszka, Ken Hale, Andrea Johnson, Nancy Lawton, Claire Lerner, Susan Manchester, Stephanie Martin, Michel Medinger, and others.
“Fall Chrysanthemum” – Stephanie Martin

A marriage of art and science, botanical art immortalizes the plant world. After closely observing a plant, the artist discovers amazing details. The subject is carefully measured, drawn, and painted to capture its graceful movement and intriguing personality.
“Floral 21” – Claire Lerner
The most skilled botanical artists are those who understand plants scientifically, but also see and describe their subject with the eye and hand of an artist. Artists for the current exhibit also see botanicals through the lens of expressionism.
While plant paintings can be delicate and painstakingly exact and larger landscape canvases boldly imaginative, both are evidence of an extraordinary life in which sensuous love and religious conviction intertwine with scientific discovery.
Hot House: An Exhibit of Botanicals can be seen through May 4th during regular gallery hours: Wednesday through Friday from 11 to 4 p.m., Saturday noon to 4 p.m., or by appointment.
Pictured above: “Cascade” – Kenneth Hale

Thinking Out Loud - Monterey County High School Student Art Exhibition
2019-03-02 15:00 - 2019-03-23 16:00 | CA
Thinking Out Loud, our annual Monterey County high school student art exhibition, opens Saturday, March 2nd, with an artist reception from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Cherry Center’s gallery on Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibit can be seen through March 23rd, 2019, during regular gallery hours: Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday noon to 4:00 p.m., or by appointment.
This program is made possible in part through grants from the Arts Council for Monterey County, and funding from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, Community Foundation for Monterey County, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary, Volunteer Services for Monterey County, and Yellow Brick Road Benefit Store.
Photo above: Laura Flores Romero

One hundred area students participated in last year’s exhibit, displaying works across a wide variety of media.
“Well Lived” Raven Cook, Youth Arts Collective
“Til DEATH” Martin Aguirre, Everett Alvarez HIgh School
“Panther Grouper”Matthew Brady, Monterey High School
“Bloom” Jaia Linden Engel, Carmel High School

Roger Book - Journey Through Love
2019-02-23 14:00 - 15:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Local guitarist, pianist, poet, story-teller and singer-songwriter Roger Book will perform a special concert, Journey Through Love, Saturday, February 23, at 2:00pm, at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel. Reception will start at 1:15 with light appetizers and wine.
During the performance, Roger will take you through the many sides of love, while sharing personal stories from his life and those around him.
All proceeds benefit the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts and Carmel’s WW1 Memorial Arch restoration project. Tickets are $25, available by calling (831) 624-7491.

Monterey Comedy Improv
2019-02-09 19:30 - 21:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Tragedy, comedy, or contemporary culture? It makes no difference to the Monterey Comedy Improv, who perform 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 9th, at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel.
The troupe will take suggestions from the audience on a wide range of subjects to create a series of scenes and skits using whatever props are at hand. Scenes might include star-crossed lovers, sword fights, turkeys, politicians, rhyming couplets, disguises, and asides from the audience.
Monterey Comedy Improv have gained quite a bit of notoriety as the only troupe on the Central Coast to perform short form improvisational theater. The show typically features plenty of audience participation, so be sure to leave your inhibitions at the door!
Tickets are $15, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Monterey County High School Poetry Contest - Accepting Submissions
2019-02-01 - 2019-03-27 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts

The Eclectic Collective Presents: Winter Euphoria Series
2019-01-18 19:30 - 2019-02-16 19:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Imagine and Denuded Reflections
Tales told through the POV of the looking glass. Performances include adult subject matter, strong language:. February 15th and 16th, 7:30PM, $25 General Admission – Purchase tickets here, or by calling (831) 521-0375 or (831) 756-5266. Parts 1 and 2 will be performed each evening. Adult subject matter.
Part 1: Imagine, an original play adapted from a story by Janice Blaze Rocke from her novel consisting of 13 sequential stories. Peek inside the dressing room of The Mitchell Bros Theatre circa 1989 as a disillusioned and drunk stripper contemplates the idea of performing to Imagine by John Lennon for an all-male audience disinterested in world peace.
Written by Janice Rocke and co-directed by Nina Capriola.

Part 2: Denuded Reflections, in which Stephan Sams and Frances Sparks alternately portray a dual-personality talking mirror inside a strippers’ dressing room hell bent on revealing the secrets of the dancers. The mirror is brought to life with CGI effects by Kaya Tominigas and videography by Sam Danielson.
Written by Janice Rocke, Clark Coleman, Nicole Henares, and Eboni Harris.
Other performers include Zoey Kriegmont, Carri Newhouse, Emily McMath, Genevieve Marie, Suzy Nichols, and Jana Jo Williams.

Purchase Janice Blaze Rocke’s book, “Bachelor Party.” Built around the event of a bachelor party, the story is the first of 13 stories in a novel loosely based on the young adult life of its author.
Read an article about Janice Blaze Rocke in The Weekly.

Paper: Pressed, Printed, Sliced and Creased
2019-01-11 17:00 - 2019-02-16 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Paper: Pressed, Printed, Sliced and Creased, an exhibit exploring the range and diversity of artwork on paper, opens Friday, January 11th, with an artists reception from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

This exhibition focuses on works on paper, including prints, illustrated books, and selected drawings that explore and manipulate the materiality of paper itself. Paper is almost always the place where art begins and is the substance that receives the hint of an idea and finds its first outward realization. Yet paper can also support the most complex and layered of processes—watercolor, lithography and print—and be the foundation of the most refined and finished of artistic constructions.

The exhibit can be seen Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 4:00 p.m., or by appointment, through February 16th. For more information, please call (831) 624-7491.

Featured artists include Tracey Adams, Steven Assael, Martha Alf, Gale Antokal, Ann Artz, Fletcher Benton, Squeak Carnwath, Fred Dalkey, Lisa Esherick, Christian Fagerlund, Deanna Forbes, Nancy Gannon, Nancy Genn, Ken Hale, David Hines, David Ligare, Susan Manchester, Robert Natkin, Jane Rosen, Brian Taylor, Masami Teraoka, James Weeks, and others.

Pictured top: “FOLDED, August 17, 2014” – Tracey Adams

Partita Time! - The Cherry Trio
2019-01-01 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
PARTITA TIME!

The Cherry Trio — Elizabeth Gaver (violin), Penny Hanna (viola da gamba) and Michael Peterson (harpsichord) offers a toast to the new year with “Partita Time” on January 1st, 2019, at 3:00 p.m.
After the fireworks, but before the wine! Featuring some of the finest composers of the Baroque era, this year’s concert also highlights some lesser-knowns, including fire-y Vivaces and Arisoso variations by Buxtehude, a sparkling assortment of French dances by Senaillé, a sizzling sonata by Krieger, The Grape-pickers of Monguichet and the mysterious Le Dalican by Caix d’Herevois, along with the incomparable J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 2
Tickets are $25.00, and can be purchased through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. Be sure to reserve in advance, as this popular event sells out each year.

A Broadway Songbook with Tom Parks
2018-12-21 19:30 - 2018-12-22 19:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Tom Parks returns to the Cherry stage with A Broadway Songbook on December 21st and 22nd, at 7:30 p.m. Join us for a joyful evening of song and remembrance featuring the music of Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, and many more. Musical direction by George Peterson.
Tickets for the evening are $25.00, available by calling (831) 717-7373.

Along Came Betty - Jazz at The Cherry
2018-12-16 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
We are pleased to welcome back Along Came Betty to our theater stage for another round of rich, harmonized sax and trumpet, backed by the classic piano, bass, and drums rhythm section.
Along Came Betty (Biff Smith, piano; Brian Stock, trumpet and flugelhorn; Paul Tarantino, saxophone; Steve Uccello, bass; Patrick Tregenza, drums) has performed at many local and national jazz venues, including the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Big Sur Jazz Festival. Since 1998, they have been celebrating the spirit of hard-bop, a seminal movement of 50s and 60s jazz. Pianist and prolific composer Biff Smith’s sophisticated yet highly accessible compositions blend elements of that era with modern sensibilities.
Please join us for some great music, wine, and light fare–all included in the ticket price. Sunday, December 16th, doors open at 2:00pm; performance from 3:00-5:00pm. Tickets are $25, available online at brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Monterey Comedy Improv
2018-12-15 19:30 - 21:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Tragedy, comedy, or contemporary culture? It makes no difference to the Monterey Comedy Improv, who perform 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 15th, at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel.
The troupe will take suggestions from the audience on a wide range of subjects to create a series of scenes and skits using whatever props are at hand. Scenes might include star-crossed lovers, sword fights, turkeys, politicians, rhyming couplets, disguises, and asides from the audience.
Monterey Comedy Improv have gained quite a bit of notoriety as the only troupe on the Central Coast to perform short form improvisational theater. The show typically features plenty of audience participation, so be sure to leave your inhibitions at the door!
Tickets are $15, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

Make Merry at The Cherry Celebration - pop-up art sale
2018-12-14 17:00 - 20:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts invites you to their annual ‘pop-up’ art fundraiser and holiday celebration, Make Merry at the Cherry, on Friday, December 14th, from 5-8 pm in the gallery on Fourth Avenue and Guadalupe Street, Carmel.
Photograph by Ken Parker
Catch the holiday spirit as you mix and mingle with friends old and new. The event will feature reasonably-priced art by Robin Winfield, Jan Wagstaff, Peter Hiller, Mary Hill, Dixie Dixon, Ken Parker, Richard Cannon, Mary Liz Houseman, Jim Castelle, Diane Cailliet, Chris Sawyer and many others; as well as select seasonal items and a raffle that includes a collection of fine wines.

Proceeds will support The Cherry’s ongoing contribution to the arts community of Monterey County. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information about this event, please call (831) 624-7491

Pictured above: “MIghty Tomato” – Robin Winfield

Still life by Erin Gafill
Landscape by Sara Healy

Bruce Forman's "The Red Guitar" SOLD OUT
2018-12-09 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Imagine receiving an invitation to a gala featuring John Coltrane, Sigmund Freud, and Faust. Bruce Forman’s “The Red Guitar” is all that and more. This show draws on Forman’s decades of experience as a formidable jazz guitarist and his considerable skill as a storyteller and teacher, producing a work that is greater than the sum of its dazzling parts.
A story in and about jazz, “The Red Guitar “ showcases Forman’s genre-breaking inventiveness and his ability to improvise and create within a classical form. Enlisting the full power of the jazz idiom and integrating it with seasoned and provocative story-telling, he confronts the dilemma of artistic obsession face-to-face by creating a work of art that simultaneously explores and demonstrates the hold that music has over its most ardent followers… the hold that poses itself as a life-or-death, must-be-solved-question to Forman and his ilk. Come hear Bruce’s answers to the question: “The Red Guitar”- do you play it…or does it play you? The Red Guitar is serious one-man theater, incorporating great musical virtuosity and storytelling skills to explore the obsessive demands that music places on its truest followers
World-class guitarist, Bruce Forman, has been making positive waves in jazz circles for over thirty years. His life and musical journey provide an American saga that is still in full swing. His Texas origins, his early career in San Francisco and New York, and his years on the road all contribute to the unique and highly personal vision that he demonstrates today.
Please join us for some great music, wine, and light fare–all included in the ticket price. Sunday, December 9th, doors open at 2:00pm; performance from 3:00-5:00pm. Tickets are $20, available at brownpapertickets.com. or by calling (831) 624-7491.

An Evening with Devaji - Live in a Universe of Love
2018-12-08 18:30 - 20:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Live in a Universe of Love
Join us for an evening with Devaji and discover this Truth in yourself. Saturday, December 8th at 6:30 pm at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel. $15 suggested donation at the door.
Devaji’s teachings, which are rooted in the nondual tradition of Ramana Maharshi and the devotional path of Ramakrishna, invite us to use life’s reflection to discover the passion, beauty and love of pure Being. He has been guiding those committed to a spiritual path for nearly 20 years.
A retreat at the Center for Spiritual Awakening in Pacific Grove, California, follows, December 9-15, 2018. For more information, please visit our website, www.devaji.org.

Almost Like Being in Love
2018-11-16 19:00 - 2018-11-17 19:00 | CA
KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler reunite to celebrate the Alan Jay Lerner centenary with their new show, Almost Like Being In Love, on Friday, November 16th and Saturday, November 17th, at 7:00PM. The talented duo, described by Stephen Holden of the New York Times as,”ferociously entertaining,” will include songs like “If Ever I Would Leave You,” “Gigi,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” and other Lerner masterpieces. When the show was performed in England, it received 5 out of 5 stars by The London Times.
Tickets are $30.00 ($35.00 at the door cash/check), available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (646) 298-4772.
About the performers:
KT Sullivan was named artistic director of The Mabel Mercer Foundation in 2012. She starred in the Broadway revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and headlined for almost two decades in The Oak Room of The Algonquin Hotel. . She guest starred on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” recorded six albums on the DRG Label, was the star vocalist on two tours of China with The Manhattan Symphonie, and was twice named one of “The Top 100 Irish Americans” by Irish America Magazine.
Mark Nadler is an internationally acclaimed singer, pianist, tap-dancer and comedian. He is the recipient of the 2015 Broadway World Editor’s Choice Award for Entertainer of the Year. His off-Broadway hit, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, has been honored with the 2013 Nightlife Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and two Broadway World Awards. Mr. Nadler has performed at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra and has been a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Oregon Symphony, National Arts Centre Symphony in Ottawa and others. Mark is the recipient eight awards from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, three Backstage Bistro Awards, two New York Nightlife Awards and two Bay Area Outer Critics’ Circle Awards. Broadway credits include Dame Edna: The Royal Tour and The Sheik Of Avenue ‘B’. At Lincoln Center, Mark cowrote, directed and starred in Schnozzola, a tribute to Jimmy Durante for the “Reel to Real” series.

Monterey County Gives 2018 - Donate Today!
2018-11-08 08:00 - 2018-12-31 23:30 | CA
WHAT’S THE ‘BIG IDEA?’
As an institution, the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts is an enormous idea. For seventy years we’ve presented art exhibitions, plays, workshops and readings that support creative expression on the Central Coast. Even if you only walk in once a year, just the knowledge and reassurance the Cherry Center is still here raises one’s spirits. Next year is no different. We are brimming over with “big ideas.” Our first is The Cherry in Motion — the Cherry Center’s smart phone film festival. Created to encourage residents to share their lives through short films created on smart phones and tablets, the festival will include workshops with film industry professionals, a competition open to all residents of Monterey County, and an awards presentation where winning shorts will be shared with the community.
Together with 100% Board of Directors participation, MCGives! will match your contribution at montereycountygives.com. We can make 2019 a year filled with Big Ideas! Thank you for your continued support of the Cherry Center, and we’ll see you at the movies—your movies!

Inside Out
2018-10-26 19:30 - 2018-10-27 19:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Writers talk to their demons about the vulnerability of being a creative person. Actors, dancers, and musicians bring these conversations to life. Featuring an all star locals cast including Monique Rose of No Existo, Carri Newhouse, Genevieve Marie, OoLa Habib Rahall, Mario Mario, and Rachel Corvese of the Hip Nautic Flowers, Callie Lyn of the Carmel Delights, and Jess Juarez of the Paper Wing Theatre Co. Writers include Liz MacDonald, Marie Boucher, Nicole Henares, Heidi Machem, Marc Zegans, Victoria Lobitas, Ryandake, and Janice Blaze Rocke. Nelson Basden will be our light designer. Directed and produced by Janice Blaze Rocke and The Erotic Eclectic.

Friday, October 26th and Saturday, October 27th, at 7:30PM. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel. Tickets are $20, available at the door or through this link.

Monterey Comedy Improv
2018-10-20 19:30 - 21:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Tragedy, comedy, or contemporary culture? It makes no difference to the Monterey Comedy Improv, who perform 7:30p.m., Saturday, October 20th, at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel.
The troupe will take suggestions from the audience on a wide range of subjects to create a series of scenes and skits using whatever props are at hand. Scenes might include star-crossed lovers, sword fights, turkeys, politicians, rhyming couplets, disguises, and asides from the audience.
Monterey Comedy Improv have gained quite a bit of notoriety as the only troupe on the Central Coast to perform short form improvisational theater. The show typically features plenty of audience participation, so be sure to leave your inhibitions at the door!
Tickets are $15, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

"A Doll's House" Reading and Panel Discussion
2018-10-20 15:00 - 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Northwest Corner, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
Actors Lawrence Hecht and Ashlee Temple will read excerpts from Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” on Saturday, October 20th at 3:00pm. Suggested donation for tickets is $15.00 at the door.
The reading will be followed by a discussion with the audience to explore the play’s relevance in light of both the nineteenth century and today’s social/political climate.
When Ibsen”s “A Doll’s House” premiered in Denmark in 1879 , it created a cry of outrage around the world, as well as a rallying point for early feminists. The play examines the moral and ethical milieu of a world in which women have few choices and opportunities. Most importantly, Ibsen was interested in exploring the consequences of such a world and its impact on women, men, family, and society as a whole. This powerful play continues to evoke strong personal and political reactions among audiences.

Lawrence Hecht
Lawrence Hecht
Mr. Hecht most recently appeared as Gus in Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures at Curious Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado, Lawrence began his professional career in the San Francisco Bay Area over four decades ago. He acted, taught and directed with the American Conservatory Theatre for 25 years. He has also appeared with Berkeley Rep, the Marin Theatre Company, the Magic Theatre, San Jose Rep, the Livermore Shakespeare Festival and more. Beyond the Bay, he’s worked at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Arizona Theatre Company and the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts. At the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, he served as Head of Acting for the renowned National Theatre Conservatory. Mr. Hecht is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and the ACT Advanced Training Program. His ventures into film include the role of Neal Prescott in Wes Craven’s Scream Trilogy. He is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, SAG/AFTRA and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.
Ashlee Temple
Ashlee Temple
Is an actor, director, teacher and artist. She has appeared on stage in New York City as well as regionally at the Two River Theatre Company, The Barter Theatre, Yale Repertory and Marin Theatre Company. She has directed here in California as well as at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, University of Colorado at Denver, University of Denver, Denver School of the Arts, GALSCO, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, SHO in Denver, and SisTryst Theatre Company. Ashlee received her BFA from New York University and her MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama. Ms. Temple is currently an Associate Professor of Drama at San Joaquin Delta College.

"You'd Be Prettier If You Smiled" - Identity, Gender and Dissonance
2018-10-19 17:00 - 2018-11-30 17:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
The Carl Cherry Center’s next exhibition, You’d Be Prettier if You Smiled: Identity, Gender and Dissonance, opens Friday, October 19th, with an artists’ reception from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
For this exhibit, Gail Enns selected works by the Temple Sisters, Susan Abbott Martin, and Maria Porges that open an important conversation about the enduring struggle women face in contemporary society.
You’d Be Prettier if You Smiled, Identity, Gender and Dissonance furthers the dialog begun with The New Domestics, Finding Beauty in the Mundane, mounted recently at The Monterey Museum of Art.
“I believe that Jeanne d’Orge, founder of The Cherry Center for the Arts, would embrace both shows as continuing the spirit of the Feminists and their fight for the long sought recognition of women’s art as a viable part of the contemporary art world,” says Enns.
The exhibition will run in the gallery through November 30th, 2018.
Pictured, above: “You’d Be Prettier if You Smiled” – The Temple Sisters, mixed media on canvas, 40″x 60″

Curator Statement:
You’d Be Prettier if You Smiled: Identity, Gender and Dissonance provides insight into the tension between genders and the relative place of women in contemporary culture.
This show questions our culturally accepted norms of feminine expression by calling attention to the idea that stereotypes pervade our culture not only with words — such as chauvinistic labels like “hysterical” and “shrill” — but also with images and objects — such as lace on one hand, or saw blades on the other — that connote stereotypical ideas of feminine and masculine.
Marie Porges’ destroys and then reconstructs ancient Gothic books into tools, such as saw handles. Susan Abbot Martin creates hand-made doilies on saw blades; the friction between these two materials highlights the tension between genders. The Temple Sisters, Holly and Ashlee, deconstruct images of young women beaming with energy, but constricted by torn paper, notes and ephemera. However one chooses to interpret these works, it is clear that each artist skillfully grapples with the distillation and presentation of female stereotypes.
This exhibition continues the dialog begun recently at The Monterey Museum of Art with The New Domestics, Finding Beauty in the Mundane.
Jeanne d’Orge, Cherry Center founder, would embrace this show as continuing the feminist spirit of artists such as Miriam Schapiro, Jenny Holzer, Eva Hesse and Louise Bougeois who have all contributed to the long fought recognition of women’s art as a critical contribution to contemporary art.
– Gail Enns

About the Artists:
The Temple Sisters work in mixed media and generate large and small works on canvas and paper, as well as smaller three-dimensional assemblages. Their work reflects their fascination with the effects of time and memory upon iconography – personal, spiritual and cultural. Each piece created is meant to engage the viewer in questions of the temporal nature of the image(s), personal memory and the hidden stories that are re-imagined through age and displacement.
Holly Temple studied art and art history at the San Francisco Academy Art, San Francisco State University and at C.S.U. in Florence, Italy. She worked in New York for many years as an Art Director at Avon, Christian Dior, Estee Lauder, David Yurman, among others and currently runs her own freelance graphic design company in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Ashlee Temple studied theatre at N.Y.U. and received her M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama. She continues to work in theatre as a director and teacher in Stockton, CA.

Susan Abbott Martin received her MFA in 1981 from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Martin has exhibited at the Oakland Museum at City Center; Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist Gallery; and Dennos Museum at Northwestern Michigan State, Traverse City.
“Not Your Grandmother’s Crocheted Coverlet #3” – Susan Abbott Martin
Her work has been reviewed in Art Forum, the SF Chronicle, Artweek, and the World Herald in Omaha, Nebraska. Martin has received numerous grants, awards and residencies, including two grants from the Pollock Krasner Foundation; the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest International Artists Program at Monet’s garden in Giverny, France; the Bemis Foundation in Omaha, Nebraska; and Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York. She currently lives and works in Oakland, California.

Maria Porges is an artist and writer whose work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions since the late 1980s. She received a SECA award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and has been in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts twice.
“Celestial Blue” (2016) Maria Porges
A finalist for the Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Art Writer’s Grant in 2014, her critical writing has appeared in many publications, including Artforum, Art in America, Sculpture, American Ceramics, Glass, New York Times Book Review, and a host of other now-defunct art magazines. She has also authored essays for over 100 exhibition catalogues and dozens of scripts for museum audio tours. Porges is an Associate Professor at California College of the Arts.

Women's Voices
2018-10-12 19:30 - 21:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Northwest Corner, 4th and Guadalupe, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA, 93921, United States
Women’s Voices, a reading exploring the poetry of Kate Aver Avraham, Laura Bayless and Jennifer Lagier, will be held Friday, October 12th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.00, available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (831) 624-7491.

About the poets:
Kate Aver Avraham is a poet, children’s author, art enthusiast, community volunteer nature lover and mischief-maker. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies as well as the Celebration of the Muse chapbook, Perhaps the Truth is Also Blue. Her latest children’s book was What Will You Be, Sara Mee, from Charlesbridge, Boston. She is currently working on a collection of poetry as well as a memoir, The Sibling Diaries.
Laura Bayless is the author of four collections of poetry, including her most recent book Chairs in the River published by FutureCycle Press.. Her poems have appeared in local and national publications, and anthologies, including Dancing on the Brink of the World, Selected Poems of Point Lobos, Porter Gulch Review, The Homestead Review, and Blue Heron. She is co-editor of an award-winning compilation of stories and poems about the Carmel River – Passion for Place. She participated in seven Women’s Voices readings at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel and multiple Women and Food art and poetry presentations on the Monterey Peninsula.
Jennifer Lagier is a retired college librarian. She taught with California Poets in the Schools, has published fourteen books, edits the Homestead Review, and helps coordinate Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium readings. Her newest books are: Scene of the Crime (Evening Street Press), Harbingers (Blue Light Press), Camille Abroad (FutureCycle Press), Like a B Movie (FutureCycle Press). Forthcoming: Camille Mobilizes(FutureCycle Press).

Improv Classes at The Cherry - Grades 9-12
2018-10-03 12:00 | CA
In this session of eight classes, students (grades 9-12) will learn the art of improvisational theater, including improv technique, short-form games and long-form scenes. Classes will be held in the Cherry Center’s gallery, located on the northwest corner of Fourth and Guadalupe, Carmel.
Instructor Barbara Rees has been teaching theatre for forty-five years. For the past nine years, she was an english teacher and director of theatre at York School where she launched an acting program and a study of design and world theatre traditions. Nick Rees, professional improvisational actor and former touring member of Chicago’s famed The Second City, will Skype in for two of the sessions.
Be spontaneous, creative, playful and imaginative while you develop valuable theatre skills. $100 per session (8 classes) or $15 per individual class. Classes will be held 12:00PM – 1:30PM on Saturday, October 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th; November 3rd, 10th, 17th; and December 1st. To sign up, please call (831) 624-7491 or email info@carlcherrycenter.org. Space is limited, so contact us today!

Monterey County Artists Open Studio Tour
2018-09-29 11:00 - 2018-09-30 17:00 | CA
The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts will be stop #38 on the Monterey County Artists Open Studio Tour on September 29th and 30th, 2018, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This free tour is a self-guided journey of artist studios and exhibition spaces throughout Carmel and the Carmel Valley. The tour will extend to Salinas, Salinas Valley, and North & South County locations on October 6th and 7th, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
This year, participating artists include Peter Hiller (numerous art mediums); Carole Pavlo (sculpture, painting, etching); Tim Dale Hill (photography and watercolor); and Christine Watten (painting, ceramics and glass).
The public is invited to the Tour Gala Kick-off on Friday, September 21, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Walter Lee Avery Gallery of Seaside City Hall, 440 Harcourt Avenue, Seaside. The public can meet participating tour artists and view an exhibition of their works; and enjoy food, beverage, and music. There is no fee to attend. A tour exhibition will run from September 10 through October 25 at the Avery Gallery, open to public viewing Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Find free tour catalogs and maps in the Monterey County Weekly on Thursday, September 27th, and the Carmel Pine Cone on Friday, September 28th. Download a catalog from ArtsHabitat.org, or an interactive digital map of tour locations here. Still have questions? Visit their website, or call 831-624-6111.

Arts Habitat Presents Arts in Progress
Curator and Art Administrator, Melissa Pickford, will give a talk and screen the PBS film, Master of Light: The Life and Watercolors of Rollin Pickford in the Cherry Hall Theater on Wednesday, September 5th, at 6:00PM. Use this link for more information.
“Moon Wave” Rollin Pickford

SOLD OUT "Come What Mae - A Mother of a Show"
2018-09-28 19:30 - 2018-09-29 19:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Cabaret sensation Barbara Brussell will perform her latest musical presentation, Come What Mae – A Mother of a Show, at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts for two performances only: September 28th and 29th at 7:30p.m.
Mae Brussell (May 29, 1922 – October 3, 1988), mother of five, was dynamic, passionate, generous, smart, direct, hilarious, and memorable! Seventeen-years on radio — in “Dialogue Conspiracy” and “World Watchers” — provided a weekly platform to share her digesting of the news. Mae was known as one of the foremost researchers of the Kennedy assassinations, the Watergate scandal, other alleged conspiracies in America and beyond.
“Thirty years ought to be a sufficient amount of time to write a cabaret show about your deceased mother, right?” Barbara wonders.
Tickets are $25.00 in advance ($30.00 at the door), available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling (646) 298-4772.

One of Mae Brussell’s favorite songs, from Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures:
“It’s the fragment, not the day.
It’s the pebble, not the stream.
It’s the ripple, not the sea
That is happening.
Not the building but the beam,
Not the garden but the stone,
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree.”

The Life and Work of Watercolor Artist Rollin Pickford
2018-09-05 18:00 - 20:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Arts Habitat Presents Arts in Progress
Curator and Art Administrator, Melissa Pickford, will give a talk and screen the PBS film, Master of Light: The Life and Watercolors of Rollin Pickford in the Cherry Hall Theater on Wednesday, September 5th, at 6:00PM.
Through original paintings, video, and music, enjoy a daughter’s intimate portrait of her father’s extraordinary life and legacy. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact Arts Habitat at 831-624-6111 or staff@artshabitat.org.
Pictured above: “Moon Wave” – Rollin Pickford

Melissa Pickford

This event is part of a series leading up to the 28th annual Monterey County Artists Open Studio Tour. The Carl Cherry Center for the Arts will be stop #38 on the tour, held September 29th and 30th, 2018, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This free tour is a self-guided journey of artist studios and exhibition spaces throughout Carmel and the Carmel Valley. Please visit this page for more information.

Feleboga
2018-08-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Feleboga will perform a concert of old-time music from the Appalachians on Friday, August 24th, at 7:00 pm at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts in Carmel. Feleboga (fiddle bows) is a band from Norway, composed of family members Mattias Thedens (fiddle, banjo, vocals), Elizabeth Gaver (fiddle, vocals), and Hans-Hinrich Thedens (guitar, banjo, vocals). Tickets are $15.00, available through Brown Paper Tickets or by calling (831) 624-7491.
After living in Johnson City for several months in 2004, they have returned to the Appalachian area almost every summer to continue their immersion in the music – fiddle tunes, songs, and ballads. The concert will present two new string band CDs featuring the family. Stories and projected photographs will illustrate their journey with the music.
Feleboga Stringband’s “Tugboat to Hamburg” includes two additional American musicians living in Norway. The CD has several songs and fiddle tunes, two with original texts. Feleboga Stringband has performed and played for dancing in Norway, Denmark, and Germany.
“The Moose Whisperers” is the self-titled debut CD of the exciting young band with Mattias on fiddle. The Moose Whisperers won the old-time band contest at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Festival (Clifftop) in 2016. After performing at the festival the following year, the band recorded this CD in Washington DC. They toured Norway and Denmark in January 2018 and have been invited to perform and teach at the Gainsborough Festival in February 2019.
For more information about Feleboga, please follow us in Facebook and see our website, feleboga.com.

Nice Fish
2018-08-10 19:30 - 2018-08-12 14:00 | Carl Cherry Center for the Arts
Paraphrase Productions proudly presents Nice Fish in the Cherry Hall Theater on Friday, August 10th and Saturday, August 11th, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, August 12th, at 2:00p.m.

From Mark Rylance and the works of prose poet Louis Jenkins is a story of seeking something that can swallow a person whole. Two old friends go ice fishing and discuss life, regret, love, and the tranquility of being in nature. According to the director, Alex Thibeau, this play encapsulates “the powerful experience of reflecting on a person’s life and the combination of humor with prose poetry that makes this play an instant classic.” Directed by Alex Thibeau.

Cast List:

Ron – Colin Skerritt
Erik – Adrian Clark
Flo – Kimberly English
Wayne – Alyca Tanner
DNR Man – Andrew Marderian

Tickets are $10.00 general admission, $5.00 for students and teachers. Tickets can be purchased here or by calling (831) 607-8422.
