Chautauqua Revue

Surprise! That’s what you’ll be feeling as you experience the 12th Annual Chautauqua Revue in the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center’s outdoor North Garden Theater. Acrobats and storytellers, beavers and magicians, musicians and dancers, clowns and singers. This year’s edition of the Revue is full of moments that will catch you off guard, leaving you humming a tune and laughing out loud. Dance is a theme this year with performances by both Erin and Durok Tango and the elegant swing sensations, Owen and Laura; returning after too many years away from the Revue stage, magician Ken Garr will leave you amazed and in fits of laughter; Davin Cardenas of the North Bay Organizing Project eloquently spins the tale of his work and life; Natasha Kaluza, who stole the show two years ago with her hula hoops, and Abigail Munn, co-director of Oakland’s Circus Bella, team up for a head spinning display of acrobatics and juggling; the story of Joan of Arc is powerfully evoked by Amanda Moody with musical excerpts from her show D’Arc; your spirit will be uplifted by the buoyant songs of Take Jack; you’ll never fold laundry quite the same way after watching what Clowns On A Stick do after the spin cycle; the Chautauqua Sisters get a new coat of paint, Big B and His Snakeoil Saviors steal the show once again, and Wysteria McBrylcreem, your benevolent and sardonic Mistress of Ceremonies, holds it all together by the skin of her teeth. This year also sees the return of the popular Children’s Matinee at 2pm on Saturday the 13th. A shorter version of the evening show, the Matinee features acts that children and their parents will thoroughly enjoy. The secret spice in the Chautauqua Revue recipe is, of course, the beautiful environs of the North Garden Theater. Adjacent to the forty year old, hand tended gardens of OAEC, the theater is overhung by oak and bay trees.