In New York, Boston, Paris, Madrid and Rome, just about anyone with the means gets out of the city in August. In San Francisco, the dog days of summer are often the best of times. Theaters, clubs and other venues brim with performances and, for Mission residents, a world of dance, film and music can be found blocks from your doorstep. Your cultural missionary offers some recommendations.
Short films vie for Oscar nods at the Roxie
In a fascinating development from the pandemic, the Bay Area has become an awards-qualifying hub for the Oscars, and the Roxie is meeting the need by launching the new First Looks! series. In order to be eligible for an Academy Award nomination, short films (40 minutes or less) are required to either receive a theatrical release or an award at a competitive film festival. The Roxie’s Oscar qualifying series runs Friday through Aug. 10. Novato filmmaker Sam Huff will be on hand for a Q&A after Saturday’s screening of “Michael Aragon: The Beat Goes On,” his seven-minute piece on jazz drummer Michael Aragon, who held down a Friday night gig at Sausalito’s No Name Bar for 36 years.
Word about the Roxie’s series quickly spread on the filmmaker grapevine. “We weren’t expecting to immediately get submissions from outside the Bay Area, but we have,” said Kelly Wiggin, the theater’s operations director. “A number have come in from the East Coast, as well as other countries. We already have enough submissions for the next program, so we hope to get that going in the next month or two.”
Green Mitchell Trio joins David Boyce at Medicine for Nightmares
Saxophonist David Boyce’s Friday night invitational at Medicine For Nightmares continues with the Green Mitchell Trio, a Bay Area combo that recorded a fascinating album for Edgetone Records in 2012. Multi-reed player Cory Wright, a creative powerhouse who’s been at the center of the Bay Area creative music scene for three decades, reassembles the trio at Medicine with bass explorer Lisa Mezzacappa and texture-minded drummer Jason Levis. Carefully navigating a liminal realm that melts distinctions between improvisation and composition, the chamber jazz group isn’t averse to settling into a groove.
A night of Bacharach at The Chapel
Friday at The Chapel, the Red Room Orchestra presents “What the World Needs Now,” a lush excursion into the Burt Bacharach/Hal David songbook. Founded by San Francisco producer and multi-instrumentalist Marc Capelle, the Red Room collective is a large ensemble that includes heavyweight talents such as Dina Maccabee, Petra Haden, Lewis Patzner, and vocalist Karina Denike.
Oracular magic at the Ireland House
On Thursday, La Pocha Nostra and 500 Capp Street present “The Mex Files: A Divination Ritual,” featuring the Pocha Nostra duo of Guillermo Gómez-Peña and cyborg-feminist poet performance artist Balitrónica performing excerpts from their most recent ritual actions. Relying on a casino roulette wheel and several tarot decks, Balitrónica deploys oracular magic and other forms of conjuring to select spoken word texts and props for Gómez-Peña’s live performance. On Friday an evolving exhibition of selected objects from Gomez-Peña’s own “living archives” opens in the Dining Room, arranged in dialog with the delightfully odd resident collection of David Ireland. The Living Room encounter is curated by Emma Tramposch, La Pocha Nostra’s executive director, and 500 Capp Street’s Lian Ladia.
‘State of Play’ with ODC and SF Ballet
When it comes to dance, the Mission is the place to be this month. At ODC Theater, there’s the 11th annual summer dance festival State of Play, Aug. 3-13. An inaugural co-presentation with San Francisco Ballet, the ambitious program showcases an interplay of works by artists at different stages in the artistic process. Audrey Johnson, gizeh muñiz vengel and Bhumi B Patel / pateldanceworks present works in progress. The finished, evening-length works include “How lonely sits the city” by Marissa Brown / Lone King Projects and “I came here to weep” by Yanira Castro / a canari torsi. There’s also a series of shorter finished works by Ajani Brannum, DANDY, Baye & Asa, and Jerron Herman. State of Play’s guest curators are Maurya Kerr, a former ODC Theater resident artist and artistic director of the contemporary dance company tinypistol, and Leyya Mona Tawil, founding director of Arab.AMP and the Temescal Art Center in Oakland.
Int’l Dance Fest celebrates deaf and hearing-impaired dancers, choreographers
Eleven seems to be the week’s magic number as Antoine Hunter’s Urban Jazz Dance Company presents the 11th Annual Bay Area International Dance Festival at Dance Mission Theater Aug. 4-6. Featuring performances, workshops and panels highlighting the contributions and work of deaf and hard-of-hearing dancers and choreographers, the festival features an array of Bay Area talent and artists from Washington, D.C., Arkansas, New York, and beyond. All performances include interpretation in ASL/English, deaf international sign language and audio description.