oriented," says Anvar, 33, whose
Jewish roots reach back to Iran, where
his father was raised. "We put so
much effort into making them acces-
sible. We stage them so they're very
physical, and we hire people to do
[background] music. We think of it
as Shakespeare meets cirque."
Anvar fell in love with theater after
he was unwillingly cast in a high
school production of Hamlet. He
went on to study acting at the
National Theatre School of Canada
and the Banff School of Fine Arts.
"Because I didn't know it couldn't
be done, I did it," Anvar says about
starting his own company, which has
traveled to 35 communities in the
United States and Canada and
devotes winters to school shows.
Bookings have grown as troupe mem-
bers showcase their talents at the Arts
Midwest Conference.
Anvar, who recently brought his
company to West Bloomfield and has
performed in Jewish theater in
Canada, comes from a theatrical fam-
ily. One uncle studied at the Royal
Academy of Dramatic Arts in
England and is a film director in Iran
and France. Another uncle is an actor
in New York.
"We work with a $1 million budget
and get funding through government
grants and sponsors," Anvar says.
Sponsorship for the 1999 Festival
of the Arts comes from Hudson's,
which seeks to partner with arts and
cultural institutions within the com-
munity.
"I think one of the building blocks
of the city is its cultural institutions,"
Cummings says. "There has been
enormous public and private reinvest-
ment in them, and I think it's vital
that they link with each other more
to help create a cultural corridor.
"The Detroit Festival of the Arts
helps promote that. The festival gets
programs and people out on the street
to showcase these institutions and
how further collaboration can foster a
better environment for the arts.''17
The Detroit Festival of the
Arts runs 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-
Sunday, Sept. 17-19, in a 20-
block area encompassing Wayne
State University and Detroit's
Cultural Center. There is no
admission; all performances are
free. For more information, call
(313) 577-5088 or access the
Web site at detroitfestival.org .
"To many suburbanites,
the city can be forbidding,
but if you come down to the
festival, you see what you hope
to see in the city, which is a
mix of young and old and
black and white involved in a
whole range of activities."
— Peter Cummings
Detroit Festival of the Arts co-chair
The Detroit Festival of the Arts
showcases a variety of acts. Here are
some highlights:
STAGE PERFORMERS
Blackman & Arnold — Detroit jazz
band — 4-5:30 p.m. Saturday —
Comerica Music Cafe
Bloque — South American salsa
rock band — 7:30-9 p.m. Saturday
— Center for Creative Studies Stage
Cut-Time Players — classical octet
— 3-4:30 p.m. Saturday — Wayne
State Stage
Fantcha — Cape Verdean vocalist
— 4:30-6 p.m. Sunday — Wayne
State Stage
Hastings Street Revue — 1940s
blues — 2:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday —
C. H. Wright Museum Stage
Howard Armstrong Trio —
jazz/blues combo — 4-5:30 p.m.
Saturday — Hudson's Cafe
Patty Larkin — folk artist —
6:30- 8 p.m. — Wayne State Stage
Michigan Opera Theatre — tour-
ing company — 2:30-4 p.m.
Sunday — Wayne State Stage
Paranda — traditional garifuna
band — 12:30-1:30 p.m. Sunday—
Hudson's Cafe
Paris Combo — French cabaret
band — 4:30- 6 p.m. Sunday,
Hudson's Cafe
Ras Kente & the Take No
Prisoners Posse — reggae band —
4-5:30 p.m. Saturday — Center for
Creative Studies Stage
Robert B. Jones with Bill Harris —
blues and poetry — 4-6 p.m.
Sunday — Comerica Cafe
Soweto Street Beat Theatre —
South African dance troupe —
6:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday — Wayne
State Stage
Vida — a cappella quartet — 2:30-
3:30 p.m. Sunday — Comerica Cafe
Waldemar Bastos — Angolan gui-
tarist/songwriter — 5-6 p.m.
Saturday — Wayne State Stage
STREET instroaramts
Bedlam Oz — Australian symbolic
visual theater
Donald Peter Cadwell — harmoni-
ca blues instructor
Don't Look Now Jug Band — eight
members on instruments from the
kitchen
Fabric Action — portable children's
playscape
Michel Lauziere — acrobat/comedi-
an/musician
Neighbourhood Watch Stilts
International — dance performers
on stilts
John Pike — human sculpture
Royal American Folklore &
International Folk-Art Puppet
Touring Theatres — folklore pro-
ductions
Tales & Scales — musical story-
telling
Vida — world music
Youtheatre — productions of chil-
dren's plays, If You See a Fairy
Princess and Tell Her I Need Help
LIT FEST ON TEE LAWN
More than 65 national, regional and
local poets and writers present pas-
sages from their work under an open-
air tent at the Main Branch of the
Detroit Public Library 5-7 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and
noon-5:30 p.m. Sunday. Headliners
include:
Jayne Cortez — performance poet
from New York City and author of
10 books and nine recordings of her
poetry set to music — 4 p.m.
Saturday
Marc Kelly Smith — Chicago slam
master rooted in realism — 4:25
p.m. Saturday
lamont b. steptoe —Philadelphia
poet and Vietnam vet writer — 2:30
p.m. Sunday
W.D. Snodgrass — Pulitzer Prize-
winning poet and author of more
than 30 volumes and translations —
3:50 p.m. Sunday
— Suzanne Chessler
9/17
1999
Detroit Jewish News
91