We Won’t Start the Comedy Revolution Without You!

Culture Clash’s Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza arrive at the Center on Friday, January 24 for a free performance during the Off Center Festival’s POP: Party on the Plaza. They return January 30 - February 2 with the world premiere of KEEP CULTURE AND CLASH ON: 30 Years of Revolutionary Comedy Remastered. Each artist plays multiple characters, crossing all racial, social and sexual boundaries, reinventing our ideas of storytelling and community. Celebrate the third Off Center Festival and the Culture Clash 30th Anniversary this week. 

(Please Note: This show contains mature subject matter.)

Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza 
of Culture Clash.  Photo by Eric Schwabel 

Good Eats at the Off Center Festival

"The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art,
one of the joys of civilized living." 

 — Dione Lucas, chef 

Drive Me Cookie

The Center is making sure there is food for the soul, the mind and the palate during the Off Center Festival. Some of Orange County’s most popular food trucks will be on hand nearly every night so no one goes home without a great show and a full tummy. The Arts Plaza will have casual seating areas available, so come, chill and chow down. 

The Viking Truck

January 24 from 5 – 11 p.m.
Waff-N-Roll, Seabirds, Dogzilla Hot Dogs, The Burnt Truck (Serving throughout the Free Party on the Plaza) 

January 25 from 7 – 11 p.m.
Waff-N-Roll, GD Bro, Piaggio on Wheels, Adobo Express 

January 26 from 7 – 11 p.m.
Dos Chinos, Garlicscapes, The Burnt Truck, Drive Me Cookie 

Kala Truck

January 31 from 7 – 11 p.m.
Kala Truck, Dogzilla Hot Dogs, The Slummin’ Gourmet, Drive Me Cookie 

February 1 from 7 – 11 p.m.
Dos Chinos, StuffNIt Burgers, The Viking Truck, The Slummin’ Gourmet 

The Artists Lounge at Leatherby's Cafe Rouge. 
Photo by Doug Gifford

Late Night Delight in The Artists Lounge 
The Artists Lounge in Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge overlooks the Center’s Arts Plaza and is the post-performance place to meet the artists, fans and friends. All items are $6. The menu will include cheeseburger sliders, lambburger sliders, salmon tacos, chicken mole tacos, beef short rib poutine, pork belly bao buns, chorizo and goat cheese croquettes, burrata griddle buns. 

Bon appétit!

Off Center Festival Starts January 23

January 23 – 26, 2014 at 8 p.m. 
Founders Hall

blessing the boats: the remix is the moving, personal story of a man facing his life-threatening illness. It’s an inspiring story of hope, compassion and wonder and, though we are all vulnerable, we can get through anything with the support of our loved ones and friends. The text is poignant, and all facets of the story are told openly, honestly and with appropriate humor – from his “freaking out” about why he fainted in an elevator to his thoughts about the body as he is on the operating table and wondering why people are so willing to give part of their bodies to him for a kidney transplant. Blessing the boats: the remix is an accessible piece, a human story. Cast members include Will Power, Mike Ladd, and Carl Hancock Rux. 

Party on with Little Willie G.

Who’s up for a little end-of-the-week partying? There may not even be time to stop home and change clothes. The Center is throwing its first Off Center Festival POP: Party on the Plaza Friday, January 24 from 6 to 11 p.m. Headliners include Southern California’s celebrated Chicano/Latino theater troupe Culture Clash, Little Willie G. – The Original Voice of Thee Midniters and the band La Santa Cecilia. More music from DJ Free the Robots from 9:30 – 11 p.m. 

Guests can grab dinner at the WaffNRoll, Seabirds, The Burnt Truck and Dogzilla Hot Dogs food trucks. A special late night menu will be available at the Off Center Lounge in Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge located in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. 

When not on the plaza, take in performances of Edgar Oliver sharing remarkable stories of his childhood and mother in Helen and Edgar, Sekou Sundiata’s moving theater piece about one man’s remarkable and inspiring courage in the face of overwhelming odds in blessing the boats: the remix and the hilarious duo Die Roten Punkte performing their Super Musician. 

The Off Center Festival runs January 23 – 26 and January 29 – February 2. For more information, click here. 

OC Weekly Picks Reggie Watts as One of 2013's Best

It was hip, it was happening and it was in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall during the Center’s Off Center Festival last January. OC Weekly picked Reggie Watts’ concert that helped to open the Center’s second Festival as one of Orange County’s top concerts of 2013. That’s just the kind of high voltage place the concert hall is – from Andre Watts to Reggie Watts – as the late acoustician Russell Johnson said of his design, the Renée and Henry should work for everything. 

Reggie Watts at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall for the 2013 Off Center Festival.
Photos by Doug Gifford.

“As he stood underneath the glaring spotlight on the massive stage at the Segerstrom Hall for the Arts for the 2nd annual Off Center Festival, Reggie Watts was instantly struck by the size and grandeur of the nearly 2,000-seat capacity concert hall, one befitting of its illustrious founder...Bob Seger. Well, that's how Watt's described it anyway after walking onstage to a fiery applause from a decent crowd of giggly twentysomethings. Many of them, like us, had been smiling as they walked up to one of OC's classiest venues to see a man who's coined such trademark songs as "Fuck Shit Stack" and "What About Blowjobs." (Nate Jackson – OC Weekly)

The 2014 Off Center Festival Opens on January 23. Click here for more information.

Congratulations, Robert Jon & the Wreck!

Last week at the Orange County Music Awards, southern rock band Robert Jon & the Wreck took the crown as the best live band after a heated battle starting with 35 artists and finally narrowed to five finalists.

We recently hosted the band at our annual Off Center Festival, performing in Samueli Theater. We’re thrilled that they’ve made such a great impression here in Orange County. If you visit their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/Robertjonandthewreck, you’ll see a great photo of the band performing at the Festival.  

Off Center Festival Off to a Great Start

The Car Plays © Steve Dawson

The Off Center Festival is giving Southern California music, dance and theater fans a lot to enjoy and to think about. The Car Plays has vehicles lined up on the Arts Plaza for series of 10-minute plays within the vehicles themselves – each with audiences of just two.

Doug Varone and Dancers in "Dressed" © Steve Dawson

Doug Varone and Dancers began their program discussing and demonstrating the creative process of their featured work in “Stripped” and return to perform the finished work in costumes and theater lighting for part two, “Dressed.” 

Minsk, 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker © Steve Dawson

Belarus Free Theatre performed its politically powerful and thought-provoking Minsk, 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker. This festival of innovative contemporary entertainment and culturally significant works continues January 28 through February 2 with indie bands Sea Wolf and The Donnies The Amys, Fleur Elise Noble’s 2 Dimensional Life of Her, Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s Word Becomes Flesh and more of The Car Plays. 

The Off Center Lounge © Steve Dawson

Every evening ends with audiences and artists gathering at the Off Center Lounge in Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge. 

Reggie Watts Adds High Voltage to Off Center Festival

© Doug Gifford

Reggie Watts returned to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall (explaining how the name morphed from Bob Seger to Segerstorm to Segerstrom) and gave the Off Center Festival a real surge of power. It’s difficult to list all that Watts brings to his audiences – he sings, philosophizes, jokes, composes, muses, confuses and amazes. This was just day two of the two-week Off Center Festival. Upcoming are Belarus Free Theatre, The Car Plays, Doug Varone and Dancers, Fleur Elise Noble, Sea Wolf with The Donnies The Amys, and Marc Bamuthi’s The Living Word Project. 

© Doug Gifford

Each night, the Festival ends with audiences, artists and the creative teams mixing and mingling in the Off Center Lounge at Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge, located in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Watts seen here with some of his fans! Enjoy libations and the late night menu. 

For more information, please visit http://www.scfta.org/offcenter.

© Doug Gifford

© Doug Gifford

© Doug Gifford

© Doug Gifford

Off Center – Off To An Amazing Start!

© Doug Gifford

Segerstrom Center’s second Off Center Festival took off last night with concerts by Rival Sons and Robert Jon and the Wreck. A capacity crowd jammed into Samueli Theater for the kick-off event to the festival, that runs through February 2 and features bold contemporary theater, performance art, dance and music. Tonight – Reggie Watts will perform in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Sea Wolf and The Donnies the Amys in Founders Hall on January 28.

© Doug Gifford

Off We Go!

Before entertaining his own audience during the Center’s Off Center Festival on Saturday night, January 14, Reggie Watts cruised The Car Plays on the Center’s Arts Plaza. His performance in Founders Hall marked Reggie’s Center debut. The Car Plays will be back January 20 & 21 in what is now a sold-out run. You can still see the powerful play ReEntry January 18 -20, Ten Tiny Dances January 20 & 21 and Mexican Institute of Sound with opener Nancy Sanchez January 21. (Photos: Reggie Watts above and below)

Photos: Ten Tiny Dances above; Mexican Institute of Sound below