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