Hello Sourcers! 

What’s on the menu this week?

Pints for Public Media

Art in the Making

The Theater Scene

First up is a quick reminder that some folks from WSKG (myself included) will be at Liquid State in Ithaca this Friday from 3-6pm for our first Pints for Public Media event. Later in the month, on August 28th from 4-7pm, we’ll be at Crooked Mouth Brewing in Endicott debuting the new Locally Sourced Pils. Is there a spot near you where you’d like to hoist a pint with us (or even sip a glass of wine; we can be classy)? Let me know!

This week I’m talking about art, so it makes sense to shout out one of the artists on the WSKG (and Locally Sourced) team. Binghamton Porchfest just unveiled their logo for this year, and it was created by our own Senior Creative Producer, Alyssa Micha!

Our region is full of spots to make and enjoy art, but if you’re not one for traditional galleries, there are places around that provide space and time for creativity. This weekend, one of the newest is holding an event that serves as a great opportunity for finding out what they’re about.

The Media Arts Collective + Resource Exchange (MACRE, pronounced “maker”) launched in Ithaca earlier this summer. It was spearheaded in part by filmmaker Ry Ferro, one of the creators of Move When the Spirit Says Move, the Dorothy Cotton documentary you may have seen on WSKG earlier this year. MACRE aims to be “a creative incubator and community-centered space for experiential learning, collaborative making, and cross-disciplinary connection,” and it’s been great getting to watch them grow over the past few months.

This Saturday from 1-4pm, they’re hosting a Recycled Art Contest in collaboration with Creative Reuse of Ithaca, where folks can bring a bag of recycled items and turn them into art, with prizes for the winners.

Binghamton’s Praxis isn’t quite as new, but they’re still in their first year as a project space and gallery. Praxis is part of the monthly First Friday events, but also hosts regular artist meetups. If you happen to be reading this on Thursday, you've got time to catch their Women in Translation reading tonight at 5:30pm!

And if you’re more of a budding maker, the KIDS ROCKWELL Arts Lab is an amazing place to play around with new materials and projects. All the projects on offer are inspired by what’s showing at the Rockwell, so it’s great for a “show and do” day with the littles. 

Of course, I write all this from my favorite place to make art, my little writing shed in my backyard. Shared space, solitary space, what’s your favorite spot for expressing your creativity these days?

Hope you’re finding the time (and the mental bandwidth) to create something cool this week.

More soon,

Bob Proehl

Locally Sourced Editor

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Another month of a wide variety of engaging live theatre happening across the region in August! From Teen Rebels to Revolutionaries to Summer Shakespeare, there’s something for everyone’s taste and price range.

Bold Local Artists of the Southern Tier (aka BLAST) is putting up a production of The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson this weekend. This show has a special place in my heart as it was the first mainstage production I performed in at Binghamton University! This quirky dramedy takes real historical figures who never actually met and throws them in a room together to discuss some of the roles these women played during The French Revolution. Anna Tagliaferro plays Olympe de Gouges, a playwright (and real historical figure), Kirsten Whistle plays Charlotte Corday (real historical figure and assassin), Vernicia Elie plays Marianne Angelle (Haitian rebel and another real historical figure, and Sam Gurn plays Marie Antoinette (You probably have heard of her). The actors are all powerhouses, some of whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with previously. They are well suited for this play that explores feminism and activism in times of revolution and how these women are able or unable to secure their legacies in HERstory! 

The Revolutionists runs only one weekend August 15th-17th and there are a variety of discounted tickets for students and seniors. Tickets are $30 general admission and $10 for students. You’re sure to have a BLAST! I bet they’ll serve cake!

The Elmira Little Theatre in partnership with the Clemens Center will be presenting the musical Heathers with lyrics and book by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, based on the 1989 film of the same name. Heathers is a cult classic and the 2014 musical created a whole new cult following generation of musical theatre Heathers fans. I’ve seen the musical several times, and the movie even more, and I always find something new. The songs are fantastic and the musical captures the essence of the film, while bringing its own uniqueness. If you like dark comedy, this is the musical for you! Definitely check out the themes if you are unfamiliar with the story, as it is quite NSFW. Tickets range from $28-35 and can be purchased online through The Elmira Little Theatre or The Clemens Center. 

It will be warm this weekend, so if you’re craving some outdoor time, The Center for the Arts of Homer is presenting Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare. Performances FREE to the public on the Village of Homer Green, at the corner of Cayuga Street and Main Street. It is BYOC (Bring your own chair). You really can’t go wrong with any outdoor Shakespeare comedy. Much Ado About Nothing runs this weekend only, August 15th-17th. 

If you like Shakespeare AND new plays, The Center for Homer Arts is also presenting a new play called Our Beloved Iago, by Deborah Goemans, loosely based on Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello. It explores themes of PTSD that soldiers often face when coming home from war. The event is FREE for active military/veterans and $20 General Admission running Wednesday, August 20th through Sunday, August 24th.



As always, there are many opportunities to see great theatre in your community without breaking the bank. I firmly believe art should be for everyone and everyone should see art! Please let me know about shows you’re excited to see this August. I hope to see you there!

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