Lunch notes

July 6, 2010

 

This meeting was the first of our new president Vivienne Carey. Already boldly changing some traditions she informed the 27 members who braved the 90 plus temperatures to attending lunch, that she will NOT read a poem, provide historical anecdotes or read from Amhert from A to Z at the beginning of every meeting.

 

The announcements included mention that a card was sent on behalf of the club to Nancy Foster’s family, that Roger Webb had created an interactive map showing member’s house and those who wished to opt out should inform him and that we need more recipes for the cookbook.  There were no guests.

 

Our speaker, Sabrina Hamilton, artistic director of the Ko Festival of Performance, now in its 19th year, gave an entertaining and informative brief history of the festival and an overview of the current season’s performances.  In case you always wondered the name KO was chosen from the I Ching and means “revolution”, in this case referring to the aims of this group to push the boundaries of the theater. The type of theater they do is called devised theater or collaborative creation.

 

She  endeared herself to the audience by referring to the people of Amherst as, “adventurous, smart, enthusiastic and curious” which is why she added the after the performance discussions were always so lively and thought provoking. She described the KO group having three areas of interest, Performance, Workshops and Internships.

 

Each season has a theme and this year the theme is  “It’s All in the Family”. The six productions she described will be varied, thought-provoking and visually stimulating.

 

I would urge everyone in the club to get a copy of the KO Performance brochure and read the tantalizing descriptions of the performances, some of which will take place outdoors on the Amherst College Observatory lawn and will include Cajun music or puppets.

 

It  was mentioned as part of the question period that some members of  the Club might want to go as a group to enjoy one of these events.

 

Meeting adjorned at 1:45

Ellen Kosmer