Arts & Events

As one of the reported 2 billion television viewers watching the Royal Wedding last Friday, I can only say what a lovely, dignified affair it was. Seeing a smiling Kate and William exchange wedding vows in Westminster Abbey is a memory I'll long cherish. But enough of that -- it's time to return to reality on this side of the Pond and consider what's going on in the Bay Area this month. -more-

Druid, the Irish theater company from Galway -- surely one of the finest English-language troupes anywhere -- open their production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan Wednesday, May 4, at Zellerbach Playhouse on the UC campus. McDonagh's now best-known here for Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, both produced by Berkeley Rep in recent years, and perhaps his Oscar-nominated film, In Bruges. Wilde Irish staged a spirited Cripple of Inishmaan a few years back at the City Club. -more-

Art House Gallery and Cultural Center presents a free night of poetry and song in opposition to Berkeley’s proposed anti-sitting law on Friday, May 20^th, 2011, 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm (doors open 6:30 pm), sponsored by the Stand Up for the Right to Sit Down Coalition and The Revolutionary Poets Brigade. -more-

On Saturday, May 7, Berkeley Symphony will perform two “I’m a Performer” family concerts at Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley. This year, the Symphony is inviting the public for a one-of-a-kind experience of performing side-by-side with the orchestra musicians. The concerts, a complement to Berkeley Symphony’s award-winning Music in the Schools program (MITS), will be conducted by Education Director Ming Luke, and will feature an excerpt from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as well as one of the orchestra’s favorite songs, I am a Fine Musician. -more-