Hello, San Diego!
It should be a beautiful, relatively warm and dry weekend. Time to venture forth and explore the myriad of cultural delights our fair city has to offer!
Friday (today), the Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience returns to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. We saw it last time it was here; it was mighty impressive. The Digital Gym will screen The Magic Hummingbird (El Colibrí Mágico), a modern retelling of Saint Francis set on the San Diego/Tijuana border. Mexican regional Guerrero and Michoacan band Puro Tierra Caliente will play at the Pure Lounge and Grill. Johnnierenee Nia Nelson will recite and discuss her poetry at the Worldbeat Center. There will be a Telenova Improv (in English) at Mockingbird Improv.
Saturday, there will be an Australia Day Celebration at Liberty Station. The Comic Con Museum will screen their new film Lumpia with a Vengeance. Atop the parking structure at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, they will screen Mama Mia! At the Chinese Historical Museum, a number of story-tellers will spin yarns about the Year of the Dragon. At UCSD, there will be a The Ramayan Musical Show with colorful costumes, dancing and music celebrating the Indian classic of literature. At the JCC, the play The Jewish Dog offers a view of the Holocaust through the eyes of a canine fascinated by human affairs. At the Digital Gym, the San Diego Italian Film Festival will screen the film Io la Conoscevo Bene (I Knew Her Well). Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, the Obie Award, and the Lucille Lortel Award, the play English will open at the Old Globe. At St Paul's Cathedral and Episcopal Church, UCSD lecturer and musician Takae Ohnishi will perform French harpsichord music. Latino band La Santa Cecilia will play at the Music Box. The House of China Year of the Dragon Banquet will be held at the Jasmine Restaurant. The "Latin Riverdance” Benise will perform at the Balboa Theatre.
Sunday at the North University Community Library, there will be a Bilingual Mandarin Lunar New Year Storytime & Lion Dance event. At the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Escondido, the House of Ukraine will perform traditional music and dance numbers. At the Mission Valley Library, local author Clay Hoffman will speak on The Irish Brigade of the Civil War. At the Iranian American Center, the film A Dragon Arrives! will be shown and there will be a discussion after the film. The filmed National Theatre production of Dear England will be screened at the Digital Gym. There will be an encore screening next Wednesday.
Tuesday and Wednesday, the Ensamble Cepromusic will perform at UCSD's Conrad Prebys Music Center.
Tuesday, at the San Ysidro Library, there will be a Chinese New Year and Chinese Zodiac Art Celebration. The Chinese Historical Museum will be hosting a variety of Lunar New Year events at various dates and locations around town. The classic film How Green Was My Valley will be shown at the Digital Gym.
Wednesday, the 2-week-long 34th Annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival gets underway; the first night is for donors but the subsequent days are open to all.
Next Thursday, A Man Called Ove will be screened at MiraCosta College.
All next weekend, the Ticitozaa Folklorico Dance Festival will take place at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido.
Next Friday, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will begin at MOPA @ The San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Mozart's opera Don Giovanni will be performed at the Civic Theatre. Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will perform at Balboa Theatre. The play Chapatti will begin performances at Scripps Ranch Theatre.
Next Saturday and Sunday, Black Com!x Day will take place at the Worldbeat Center.
Next Saturday, the exhibition New Histories - Where Present Meets Past will open at the Photographers Eye Gallery. There will be a Lunar New Year Lion Dance performance at Olive Grove Park. At North University Community Library, there will be a discussion on the One Book One San Diego selection of The Sum of Us sponsored by the City and County of San Diego Filipino American Employees Associations. There will be a Lunar New Year Lion Dancing Celebration at the Missional Valley Library. The film Unsung Heroes, A Black Veteran's Story will be screened and discussed at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library. Si Pudiera Quedarme (If I Could Stay) will be shown at MOPA. Waltz & Such and the SD Vintage Dance Society will host their annual Viennese Grand Victorian Ball at the Balboa Park Club. Camarada will perform Argentinian tango music at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center.
Next Sunday, the extraordinary bluegrass and Americana band A.J. Lee and Blue Summit will perform at the Casbah. We are going! At Mic Drop Comedy Club, there will be a Lunar New Year Comedy Event.
Local theatrical productions include The Crucible at Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa, English at the Old Globe, Intimate Apparel at the North Coast Rep., Outside Mullingar at Lamb's Players in Coronado, and opening next week, Chapatti at Scripps Ranch Theatre.
Please note that after two weeks in the main calendar section, ongoing events (such as exhibitions and plays) can be found in Ongoing and Extended Events.
Everyone here at the San Diego Participant Observer and the Worldview Project wish you fulfilling, illuminating, and culturally-rich week!
