Theater Watch: Disco, A Sneak Preview and A Trip to the Border

Take a step back in time on Saturday, June 11, when Count Basie hosts Discopalooza. Disco fans of all generations will be getting their groove on to a number of classic performers. 

The lineup of live performances includes Trammps, famous for their hit Disco Inferno, Sugar Hill Gang, most widely known for their hitRappers Delight, A Taste of Honey, who performs the famous hit Boogie Ooogie, and Peaches and Herb, the group that made Shake Your Groove Thing one of the most memorable disco hits.

Other performers include France Joli, Lime, Martha Walsh of the Weather Girls, and Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes. The concert is hosted by CBS-FM, Joe Causi, and DJ Sal “Sally Boy” Curto.

On Thursday, June 9, Count Basie offers a sneak preview of the upcoming movie The Guard staring Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson. Writer/director John Michael McDonagh calls the movie “a very black comedy, with some sadness.” The movie won rave reviews when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early this year, and is set for release in July.

In the movie, Brandon Gleeson (of Harry Potter fame), plays Sergeant Gerry Boyle, an unconventional, drug stealing, prostitute loving Irish policeman who joins forces with by-the-books FBI agent Wendell Everett, played by Don Cheadle (Oceans 11, Hotel Rwanda), to tackle an international drug smuggling gang.

Although initially Boyle wants nothing to do with Everett or the case, he finds himself continuously pulled back into the case. As series of shady events unfold around him, he slowly begins to realize that his life is being turned upside down and the only person he can trust in Everett.

This week also brings the Crossing Borders Festival to Two River Theater. The Crossing BordersFestival begins on Thursday, June 9 and runs through Sunday, June 12. This four day event focuses on a series of plays written by contemporary Mexican-American playwrights. There will be four plays throughout the festival; El Nogalar, Two Tears in a Bucket, Mariela in the Desert, and Highway 47.

El Nogalar was written by Tanya Saracho and is a modern day telling of Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard set in northern Mexico. Two Tears in a Bucket, written by Raul Castillo, tells the story of a native New Yorker who travels to a border town in South Texas in search of a lost love. While there, he ends up discovering insight into his past.

Mariela in the Desert, written by Karen Zacarias, shows the struggles of a family living in the Mexican desert in the 1950’s. Highway 47, written by KJ Sanchez, explores the history of Sanchez’s hometown in New Mexico.

For information on tickets for any of the Count Basie events, please visithttp://www.countbasietheatre.org/.  To find out more on the Crossing Borders event, please visithttp://www.trtc.org/

• Thursday, June 9^th, 2011: The Guard movie sneak preview, 7pm at Count Basie
• Thursday, June 9^th, 2011: Crossing Borders Festival—El Nogalar , 7pm at Two River Theater
• Friday, June 10^th, 2011: Crossing Borders Festival—Two Tears in a Bucket, 7pm at TRT
• Saturday, June 11^th, 2011: Discopalooza,  7:30pm at Count Basie
• Saturday, June 11^th, 2011: Crossing Borders Festival—Mariela in the Desert, 2pm at TRT
• Saturday, June 11^th, 2011: Crossing Borders Festival—Highway 47, 7pm at TRT
• Sunday, June 12^th, 2011: Crossing Borders Festival—Mariela in the Desert, presented in Spanish, 3pm at TRT