Modesto Junior College is flinging wide the doors and inviting the public to enjoy a free Ribbon Cutting and Open House for the new Performing & Media Arts Center on East Campus on Saturday, August 23, 2008. The doors will open at 9:30 a.m., MJC Community Band will begin playing at 9:45 a.m. and the Ribbon Cutting will be held at 10 a.m. inside the newly renovated Main Auditorium. The event also commemorates the 50th anniversary for this facility and the celebration is free and open to the public.
The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony will feature Carol Channing performing a song about arts education, as well as an appearance by actor and MJC alumnus Jeremy Renner. Brief remarks will be made by Abe Rojas, chair of the Board of Trustees for Yosemite Community College District (YCCD), Dr. Roe Darnell, YCCD Chancellor, Dr. Rich Rose, MJC President, Michael Sundquist, Dean of the Arts, Humanities & Communications Division, and Taylor White, President of the Associated Students of Modesto Junior College (ASMJC).
The Center will be open for public tours following the brief dedication ceremony. Live entertainment and refreshments will be offered throughout the open house which will continue until 3 p.m. The entertainment and activities schedule for the event by venue is:
Main Auditorium:
9:30 a.m. Doors open
9:45 a.m. MJC Community Band
10 - 10:30 a.m. Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with guests Carol Channing and Jeremy Renner
11:15 - 11:45 a.m. MJC Off-Balance Dance Company
12:15 - 12:45 p.m. MJC Strings
1:15 - 1:45 a.m. A Conversation with Jeremy Renner
2:15 p.m. - 2:45 Alumni Singers: Alison Collins, Nathan Stark & Joe Rykert
Lobby of the Auditorium:
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Refreshments
Tours Originate
Box Office Open - Tickets available for "Stage Fright" and Jam n' Jive Dance Concert
Little Theatre:
11 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. Storytelling
12:15 - 1 p.m. "Six Degrees of Laughter" Play Festival
1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Improvisational Acting Workshop
Dance Studio:
12:15 - 1:30 p.m. Off-Balance Dance Company Rehearsal for Jam n' Jive
1:45 - 2:15 p.m. Kids Hip Hop Workshop
Costume Studio:
10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Costume Display
Face Painting for Kids
Radio-Television-Film Recording Studio:
10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Walk-in Interactive Presentations
The Performing and Media Arts Center underwent a $33 million expansion and renovation, with Measure E Bond money paying for $19,617,000 and the balance of funding coming from the State Chancellor's Office. The architect for the project was Dennis Smith, Grothe and Smith Architects and it was completed by Acme Construction Company between October 2006 and June 2008. The Center is now fully compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The 54,527 square foot facility houses a Main Auditorium, with an expanded lobby and restrooms, a box office and snack bar, the Little Theatre, Dance Studio, Radio-Television-Film Recording Studio, Costume Studio, actors dressing rooms, a lecture classroom and space for set construction and storage, as well as division and faculty offices.
The building, which opened in 1958, is celebrating its "Golden Anniversary" this year and the following special presentations have been booked for the 2008-09 academic year in celebration of the 50th year. MJC will present "An Evening with Frank Rich" on Saturday, November 15, at 7 p.m. in the Auditorium. Rich's timely presentation, which follows the presidential election, is entitled "Art, Culture & Politics." The New York Times columnist and former theater critic recently published the book The Greatest Story Ever Sold. He is also the author of Ghost Light, a childhood memoir, Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for the New York Times, and The Theater Art of Boris Aronson. Rich was NY Times' chief drama critic for thirteen years before becoming an op-ed columnist for the newspaper in 1994. He has written about culture and politics for many other publications and was on the staffs of Time, the New York Post and New Times magazine, after starting his career as a founding editor of The Richmond Mercury newspaper. Tickets for his though-provoking presentation, priced $25-$45, will be on sale soon.
"An Evening with David Sedaris" will bring this best-selling humorous author to speak on campus on Saturday, April 25, at 7 p.m. in the Auditorium. Sedaris, known for his sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, has become one of America's pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. His most recent book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, hit bookshelves this summer, and his other works include Me Talk Pretty One Day, Barrel Fever, Holidays On Ice, as well as collections of personal essays and Naked. His original radio pieces can often be heard on National Public Radio's "This American Life." In 2001, Sedaris became the third recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
The MJC Friends of Music will present the renowned men's chorus Chanticleer on the Auditorium stage at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 7. The group has been called the world's reigning male chorus by the New York Times Magazine. Based in San Francisco, Chanticleer has developed a remarkable reputation for its vivid interpretations of vocal literature from Renaissance to jazz and from gospel to venturesome new music. Named for the "clear singing" rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chanticleer was founded in 1978 by tenor Louis Botto. With its seamless blend of twelve male voices, ranging from countertenor to bass, the ensemble has earned international renown as "an orchestra of voices."
Please mark your calendars for the Grand Opening celebration on August 23 and plan to join us for all of the upcoming special presentations booked in the MJC Performing & Media Arts Center! For more information on MJC's performing and media arts classes and programs contact the Arts, Humanities and Communications Division Office at (209) 575-6081.
