Last Wednesday through Sunday, a memorable Baduwa’t Festival: A Gathering of the People (formerly known as the Mad River Festival) took place in Dadiqhoughuk (Blue Lake) at Dell’Arte’s outdoor performance spaces. To the chagrin of a few turned away at the door, a well-publicized policy required a vaccination card or proof of a recent negative COVID-19. […]
Mad River Festival
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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 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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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 […]
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Dell’Arte’s 2020 Mad River Festival Cancelled Due to COVID-19
Dell’Arte has announced that its annual Mad River Festival has been canceled. According to a press release sent by the school, Dell’Arte Producing Artistic Director Michael Fields was hoping to postpone the festival in September but “given the County and State health directives, it is clear that will not be possible, certainly not in a […]
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The Show Must Go Online: Dell’Arte’s Virtual Season
Despite the Mad River Festival being pushed back to September and a handful of scheduled performances canceled due to shelter-in-place orders, Dell’Arte International is not sitting idle. In a press release, Artistic Director Michael Fields says, “Uncharted times call for innovative creativity and collaboration.” Sounds like a job for Dell’Arte. The theater folk in Blue […]
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Honoring Humboldt’s Knight of Musicality
This year’s Mad River Festival kicked off on a rather different note than previous years. Instead of the usual biting satirical drama, Dell’Arte is celebrating someone who’s been a key part of more than 50 Dell’Arte productions in Blue Lake and around the world. Indeed, if you’ve listened to any music created, recorded or performed […]
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Photos from Dell’Arte’s Tim Gray Tribute
“Turning Gray Skies Blue: The Music of Timmy Gray” is a moving tribute to the talented man who composed music and wrote lyrics for 20-plus years of Dell’Arte Company performances in Blue Lake and around the world. See the slideshow below for highlights of the rehearsal and performance. The cast of 12 past and current […]
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When Worlds Collide — The Last Weekend of Mad River Festival Theatre
#//<EMBEDDED>//# and Life Beneath the Stars at the Arcata Playhouse, Eli and the Bear at the Carlo Theatre in Blue Lake all challenge our perceptions of reality and our role in the world. #//<EMBEDDED>//# For anyone concerned with humankind’s increasing overlap with, and dependence on, internet-connected machines, this is must-see theatre. The central character, a […]
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Mad About Dell’Arte
Humboldt County’s own Dell’Arte International received a shout-out from the San Francisco Chronicle this week in an article highlighting the performing art center’s 47-year history, nearly all of which has been spent in the bucolic city of Blue Lake. Currently ongoing is its 28th annual Mad River Festival, which features original theatrical works by the […]
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Behind the Mask of the Universal Soldier
The connection between the title of this year’s Mad River Festival summer show Ruzzante Comes Home from the War and Dell’Arte International may seem a bit of a stretch, but digging under the surface uncovers a timeless tribute to theatre of place. The original version of this play was written in the Commedia dell’Arte style […]