GIANT PUPPETS SERIES ON DISPLAY AT LAX
(Los Angeles, California -- November 27, 2002) Celebration Arts will premier a new giant puppet series, "Living Poets & Playwrights of Los Angeles," on Saturday, Dec. 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the landmark Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The performance is free to the public.
The magical giants inspired by some of LA's most renowned poets - Wanda Coleman, Keith Antar Mason and Paulina Sahagun - will celebrate the poetic voices of Los Angeles with readings from the artists' unique works.
Poet Wanda Coleman, born in the Southern California community of Watts and raised in South Central Los Angeles, is one of the most prolific African-American poet in the history of western literature. Her book "Bathwater: Wine," won the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and "Mercurochrome: New Poems" was a bronze medal finalist at the 2001 National Book Awards. Her poems, short stories and essays have appeared in more than 80 anthologies, including twice in "Best American Poetry" and the "1997 Norton Anthology of African American Poetry. "
The works of celebrated playwright, poet and performance artist Keith Antar Mason have been performed internationally and includes works commissioned for "The Los Angeles Festival;" "The Serious Fun Festival" at Lincoln Center, NY; "The Alternative Performance Festival" in Mexico City; and "The London International Festival of Theater." Mason is a recipient of the Harvard Book Award and the Midwest Black Playwrights Award. In 2001, he nominated for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Award for best playwright.
Paulina Sahagun is an actor, writer and educator. Her work draws from her Mexican and Chicano theater experience. She has toured extensively throughout Mexico and the United States with the Mexican theatrical groups, Los Mascarones and Grups Zero. She has performed, studied and worked with Luis Valdez and El Theatro Campensino. In 1998, she was awarded the Gateways Initiative by the Rockefeller Foundation to create a multidisciplinary theatre production with Mexican and Chicano artists. Sahagun has been an artist-in-residence at the Center for Intercultural Performance at UCLA in 1997 and 1999.
The "Poets & Playwrights of Los Angeles" are made possible by a Regional Arts Grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. Celebration Arts is supported in part by a grant from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the 18th Street Arts Complex in Santa Monica.
Free public parking is available in nearby metered, open-air Lots 2 and 6 across from same numbered terminals, in the Los Angeles World Airports Administration Building southside employee parking lot across from Terminal 7, and in the building 's visitors parking lot. Paid, valet parking at the Theme Building.
