How do you create a special, interesting musical evening?
Why not:
– Start with a scenic, atmospheric water location? Say Hyde Street Pier, the historic ferry pier on San Francisco’s northern waterfront, in Fisherman’s Wharf tourist frenzy zone.
– Add an unusual performance venue? Maybe a tall ship, the Sailing Ship Balclutha, a 3-masted, steel-hulled, square-rigged ship built in 1886.
– Include a 5 person musical group? Perhaps 3 vocalists, guitar, percussion, saxophone, bass for rich sensual sound.
Well, that’s exactly what We Players did in their repeat of last year’s sold-out performance of Canciones del Mar: Songs of the Sea!
In partnership with the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, a special one-night music event was held aboard the tall ship Balclutha in July. The program: Canciones del Mar: Songs of the Sea, was an intimate concert, songs about the sea, boats, love, and life, drawn from folkloric and popular music traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean. Performing were:
• Diana Gameros – vocals and guitar
• Jose Roberto Hernandez – vocals and guitar
• Edgardo Cambon – vocals and percussion
• Charlie Gurke – saxophone
• David Pinto – bass
The musicians, at the top of their game and clearly enjoying themselves, gave a terrific concert: original, soulful, rhythmic. A nice mix of instrumentals and vocal renditions. Held inside a snug cabin up top on the ship, the nautical tight quarters headed to the intimacy of the event. When over, we all reluctantly left in that curious state of being very satisfied but wanting more. The 2 hour concert began at 6pm and we had to leave/make way for the 8 pm performance.
About We Players
We Players “presents site-integrated performance events that transform public spaces into realms of participatory theater. …….brings communities together, reclaiming local spaces for public discourse and civic celebration through art…….. extends the transformative powers of performance beyond the stage, ……..invites our collaborators and audience to engage fully and awaken to the spectacular world around us.”
San Francisco Magazine recently honored We Players with the “Best of the Bay” pick for their unique site-specific performance work and declared, “We Players didn’t just break the fourth wall, it toppled the whole playhouse”.
We Players has a 5 year cooperative agreement with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park — the first partnership of its kind in the nation. As a result, they collaborate with a wide range of artists, creating work from diverse vantage points in a variety of media as an exercise in exploring the many layers of story within the park. The extended venue of the Park, including Maritime Museum building, Municipal Pier, Hyde Street Pier, historic vessels, Victorian Park, and Aquatic Park and lagoon serves as a laboratory for We Players experiments in site-integrated programming. Projects include generating new theatre works inspired by classical literature and Greek mythology, music concerts, dance, staged readings, visual art exhibits, conversations, parties, workshops.
About San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
Located near Fisherman’s Wharf, open year-round. Visitors view exhibits at the Park’s Visitor Center at the corner of Jefferson Street and Hyde, and walk onto the pier to visit the park’s collection of floating historic ships, and for breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. Tours, videos and demonstrations are offered daily, including ferryboat Eureka below-decks tour and Balclutha staysail demonstration.
About Balclutha
3-masted, steel-hulled, square-rigged ship built to carry variety of cargo all over the world. Launched 1886 near Glasgow, Scotland, the ship carried goods around Cape Horn (tip of South America) 17 times. It took a crew of about 26 men to handle the ship at sea with her complex rigging and 25 sails. Balclutha also had a brief career as a movie star in Mutiny on the Bounty, alongside Clark Gable and Charles Laughton; she narrowly escaped World War II scrap metal drives before being purchased by the San Francisco Maritime Museum in 1954.
Experiencing The Bay Area With We Players
As with recent performances on Alcatraz and Angel Island State Park, We Players continues its collaboration with the National Park Service and California State Parks to connect people with local Bay Area public spaces through site-integrated theatre. “An essential goal of our work is to inspire in our audience personal relationships with the places in which we play,” says Ava Roy, the company’s Artistic Director.
more info at www.weplayers.org
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