The Oriki Theater will present live performance based on the African experience while members of the Junior Anti-Sex League break their mother's hearts down the block. All of this and food, too. Designed in mixed media by five artists, this interactive art encourages people to bravely draw up their plans for the future and then to paste them up for all to see. That's part of the joy of the event, in that there are some ways in which people can literally participate in the old year being finished and the new year being welcomed. Artist Natalie Timm will be creating a resolution sculpture shaped like a star to which people can adhere their hopes for the new year, and then just walk away, effecting a kind of unburdening.
Recycling is the focus.
The fire marshal has demurred. Mask maker Lorena Laforest will have her hands full, as masks and a carnaval atmosphere are integral to the First Night theme. Event organizers hope that most revelers will create and don their own masks. But all around us, we saw the arts being squished by the Newts of the world, and it's wonderful to see them flourish. Roy Iwaki agrees.