Our lives through these past pandemic years have been a little melodramatic — as well as lonely and heart-wrenching at times. It’s also been a disappointing five years since the last Dell’Arte International summer show within the now renamed Baduwa’t Festival in Blue Lake. Performed in a welcome return to vintage DAI comedic style, this […]
Dell’Arte International
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Actor and Teacher Donald Forrest Dies at 73
Donald Forrest, stalwart of Humboldt County theater, died on Tuesday, Oct. 24, at the age of 73, due to complications related to COVID. According to family members and partner Alison Murray, Forrest, who was vaccinated, tested positive roughly a week ago and was being treated with the drug Paxlovid. A week prior to testing positive, […]
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Dell’Arte Lays off Staff, Calls for Donations
On the cusp of its 50th anniversary, Dell’Arte International is apparently in trouble. In a press release the Journal received today, the theater school states it is “unable to overcome critical cash flow issues and must lay off nearly all staff.” The annual holiday show is also set to be cut due to budget. Citing […]
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Theater Tonight: Thursday, May 4
The Dell’Arte school is presenting the first night of its three-night run of Clown at 8 p.m. What is Clown? Why, it’s a student-cast performance of the sort of stuff that Dell’Arte does best: theatrical, clown-based capering. This show has been quite popular in the past, so if this is of interest to you, snag […]
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The Bartow Project Opens April 2
Dell’Arte International and the Wiyot Tribe present The Bartow Project, a special collaboration featuring four film screenings and several exhibits about the life and art of Wiyot artist Rick Bartow. The event spans multiple venues across Wiyot ancestral territory from April 2-23. A limited seating Gala Event and screening takes place Saturday, April 2 at […]
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Longshadr Emerges from the Shadows
Michael Fields is at pains to point out that Longshadr, his newly unveiled theatrical venture, is not a production company. Rather, it is project-based, existing solely for the purpose of putting on theater. The intention is not to compete with existing theatrical ventures but to expand the universe — a version of Blue Ocean Strategy […]
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Dell’Arte International Baduwa’t Festival July 14-18
The Dell’Arte Inaugural Guild presents Dell’Arte International’s five-day-and-night outdoor Baduwa’t Festival: A Gathering of the People (formerly the Mad River Festival), July 14-18 at Dell’Arte. The festival, featuring live theater, films, a circus, live music and and the popular Red Light Cabaret, is a collaboration between Dell’Arte, the Wiyot Tribe, Circus Nonsense and local organizations […]
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Dell’Arte Presents Baduwa’t Festival: A Gathering of the People
Dell’Arte International announced today its Mad River Festival has undergone a transformation — one that seeks to honor the ancestral land of the Wiyot Tribe on which the school resides, as well support the tribe’s work to revitalize the Wiyot language, Soulatluk, by renaming the annual event. The Baduwa’t (original name of the Mad River) Festival […]
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Local Theaters Go Red Tonight in Support of the Live Events Sector
Humboldt County entertainment organizations, including local theaters, will turn on the red light tonight in support of the live events sector, which has taken a heavy hit due to COVID-19. The idea is to draw attention to a vital industry that has been shuttered since early March, 2020, and most likely will not reopen until […]
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Dell’Arte Board Responds to Equity Criticism
After nine current and former Dell’Arte International staff members penned an open letter to the theater school outlining what they see as major problems with the organization’s treatment and advancement of Black and Indigenous people and people of color, Board of Directors Chair John Bartholomew has written response to the Dell’Arte community. In it, Bartholomew […]
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Current, Former Staffers Call Out Dell’Arte on Equity
In an open letter to Dell’Arte International shared on social media titled “Collective Response to Dell’Arte International,” nine current and former staff members of the theater school call out what they say is a leadership that “cannot competently lead the organization in matters related to Equity.” The post says this has created “an unsafe environment […]
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Dell’Arte to Operate at Reduced Capacity Over the Summer
Dell’Arte International announced Wednesday that due to the impact of COVID-19 and the cancelations of the school’s Mad River Festival, Summer Intensive and other events, it will be operating at a reduced capacity over the summer in an effort to remain financially viable. In a press release from the school, Managing Director Alyssa Hughlett says, “We […]