How To Build A Fire: Rhonda Keyser
WHEN:
DECEMBER 17TH, 2021
8PM
(USUALLY EVERY LAST FRIDAY OF THE MONTH, EXCEPT FOR DECEMBER BECAUSE OF THE HOLIDAYS)
WHERE:
IN PERSON AT OPEN SOURCE GALLERY (RSVP) AND ON ZOOM (MEETING ID: 864 6054 1819)
WHO:
Rhonda Keyser is an actress, voice-over artist, environmental educator, and grassroots organizer who has appeared in a number of films (most recently Josh Klausner’s Wanderland) and on stage (in plays by Luke Rosen, Kristen Kosmas, and Tom Noonan). She has worked opposite Tate Ellington, Sam Rockwell, and Jane Curtin, has directed and acted in a short she adapted written for her by Noonan, and performed in Jason Mann’s winning entry for HBO’s Project Greenlight. She is a member of the Paradise Theater Company in New York.
She currently works as the Education and Outreach Director for Cafeteria Culture, a growing environmental education organization, and serves on the boards of one civic and two non-profits, all of which represent and are represented by our underserved neighbors, those on the frontlines of climate change, and those left out of the environmental justice conversation. Her climate activism has been directly responsible for rescuing hundreds of thousands of resources from NYC’s waste stream.
WHAT:
SEASON 8
It’s mind-boggling that we are into our 8th season of storytelling at Open Source Gallery (our third during the pandemic era). In Season 6, hosts Christina Marks and Stacie Evans were tasked with taking HTBAF online. Last Season, Jackie Reason and Lily White worked in a hybrid environment by bringing many of the storytellers to the gallery and zooming from that vantage point on 17th Street, to an online audience. For Season 8 we are making two changes that feel appropriate to the times. When the series began, we wanted to reflect the part of the nature of the gallery itself: that art isn’t just about entertainment, and that stories can breach the inherent gaps that exist within our local communities.
Terence Degnan will be returning as curator and host for Season 8 and the format will shift to long-form narratives, which will give our audiences a more immersive encounter with the stories, themselves. There will be twelve storytellers and the gallery audience will be limited to ten invitees, in compliance with social distancing protocols. Attendees will be asked to bring proof of vaccination for entry. There will be one story every month (for up to 45 minutes) and, as always, the event will be livestreamed. In the grassroots world of arts programming, pandemics breed change. While long-form stories aren’t wildly original, maybe the idea of taking one in -in a time of tailored news and flash floods- is. Stories do not always entertain. They can, on rare occasion, serve to break down societal barriers that divide communities. They humanize us. And if they find a rhythm, they can even be meditative.
This program is supported by the Puffin Foundation
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