Community News

Community Invited

Members of the community are invited to gaze at the sun through special solar telescopes, tour the university’s museum collection of mammal, bird and reptile skeletons and participate in mentored physics experiments at the Sharks @ The Beach & CNSM Live! event scheduled for Saturday, July 21, on the Long Beach State University campus.

The event is free to the public. Donations will be accepted at the event.

Among the highlights at the four-hour event include a moderated panel with Long Beach State University Shark Lab director Chris Lowe and tour of the shark and marine labs that house sharks, rays and gamefish. Members of the public are also invited to solve math challenges and conduct mentored physics experiments aimed at illuminating how matter and energy work.

The event is being hosted by the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 1-5 p.m. at the Hall of Science building. An all-day parking  pass will cost $9.

Group Exhibition: PRAXIS

The Long Beach Museum of Art Exchange (LBMAx) presents PRAXIS, a group exhibition featuring works by Julia Haft-Candell, Armando Cortes, Ben Jackel, Samuel Jernigan, Narsiso Martinez, Alexander Anderson, Anabel Juarez, Meghan Smythe, Tam Van Tran and Joakim Ojanen, curated by Gerardo Monterrubio, through August 26.

PRAXIS represents a breadth of practices that exploit the malleability of clay as a material that can operate as a mark, a symbol, a poem, a canvas, a metaphor, a memory, an existential question, a political statement or a vehicle for social and cultural commentary. Although no artist in the exhibition parallels another’s aesthetic approach, each engage the laborious physicality of the material, its fragility and its historical permanence.

PRAXIS also marks the Long Beach Museum of Art’s (LBMA) first official exhibition at LBMAx since the merger of The Art Exchange into LBMA.

Saving Community Hospital

Saving Community Hospital will be the focus of the next edition of Straight Talk. Joining host Art Levine will be Long Beach City Councilman Daryl Supernaw and Dr. Mario and John Molina. Councilman Supernaw has worked closely with the City in developing a plan to save the hospital, and the Molina’s are part of a knowledgeable group selected by the city to take over operations of the hospital and address the earthquake concerns.

This show will initially air on Saturday, July 21 and Sunday, July 22 at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on LBTV Channel 3 and 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Charter Channel 188. The show is also viewable on demand at straighttalktv.com.

‘The 20th Century Way’

In 1914, Long Beach leaders hired two bounty hunters to entrap gay men so the city could essentially blackmail and remove them with fines and public humiliation. Most men paid the fine and quietly slipped out of town. One man – a banker – committed suicide and two others sued the city. Playwright Tom Jacobson turned that dark chapter in the city’s history into a play entitled The Twentieth Century Way. The play has been produced in Boston, Pasadena and on Broadway. Fittingly, it’s coming to the Long Beach Playhouse July 20 to August 18.

Long Beach was growing quickly, its population nearly doubled between 1913 and 1914. The city had a new mayor, Louis Wheaton, a conservative man who was determined to keep alcohol out of the city, to stop illegal gambling and to run “social vagrants” (code for homosexual) out of town. Mayor Wheaten and the chief of police hired two bounty hunters to find and arrest gay men. Eventually a sting was conducted at clubs and private residences in which it was said men met to engage in cross-dressing and commit homosexual acts.

When names of the 31 men arrested in the sting operation were published in the Los Angeles Times all but two pleaded guilty. One of them was a banker named Charles Lamb; he committed suicide by taking cyanide and walking into the ocean. He left a suicide note for his sister. Two others sued, both ultimately won their cases.

Tickets – $14-$24 – are available at www.lbplayhouse.org, or by calling (562) 494-1014, option 1.

Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The box office is open Wednesday-Saturday from 3-8 p.m. and Sundays, 1-2 p.m. on scheduled matinees.

Free Summer Concerts

Long Beach Towne Center invites the community to attend its summer concert series in The Promenade featuring talented local bands. Held at the shopping center every Saturday evening, 7-9 p.m., from July 28 through Sept. 1, the concerts are free and open to the public. There will also be face painters and balloon twisters for added family fun, and attendees can compete to win gift cards to Long Beach Towne Center stores and restaurants in a trivia contest held during each performance.

For more information, visit http://longbeachtownecenter.net/events-and-promotions.

Family Fun Faire

The Children’s Theatre of Long Beach (CTLB) presents its first Renaissance Faire experience on Saturday, August 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a play at 2 p.m. Additional shows on Friday, August 10 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, August 11, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Bay Shore Community Congregational Church, 5100 E. The Toledo.

Partake of delicious food, play medieval themed games, create fairy wings or armor and top it all off with a 60-minute version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing.

For the last several years, CTLB has been producing shortened versions of Shakespeare’s works that are just perfect to introduce younger audiences to his timeless stories. Philip Schwadron, Shakespeare instructor, long time Renaissance Faire performer and author does the cutting of the play specifically for these performances.

Much Ado about Nothing is the story of young lovers Claudio and Hero getting married in just a week. Looking to pass the time, they conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well. Meanwhile, the wicked Don John conspires to break up the wedding by accusing Hero of infidelity. In the end, though, it all turns out to be “much ado about nothing.”

Neil Simon’s ‘Plaza Suite’

Add three uproariously funny stories taking place in Suite 719 at the infamous New York City Plaza Hotel to the legendary Neil Simon as the playwright, and you get Plaza Suite opening August 3 at Little Fish Theatre in San Pedro. Company Member James Rice takes the directing reins in this Tony Award-nominated comedy, mixing mirthful situations with slapstick moments and making one timeless audience-pleasing play.

Director Rice remarks, “Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite features three stories about love and marriage; tales about a marriage at the crossroads, about the one that got away, and about the anxiety of starting a life together.” He continues, “The audience will feel deeply, smile broadly and laugh hilariously.”

 Plaza Suite will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. August 3 through Sept. 1 with two Sunday 2 p.m. matinees on August 26 and Sept. 2. The August 26 matinee features a special Talkback session where the actors and creative team will be available for 10 to 15 minutes for a post-show discussion with the audience.

Founded in 2002 as an artists’ ensemble, Little Fish Theatre presents classic and contemporary plays in an intimate setting on Centre Street in downtown San Pedro.

‘Can’t Remember’

Primetime Players presents “Can’t Remember the Title of This Show!”

Fun and frolic at a retirement retreat is directed by James Meyer and written by Jayme Mekis at El Dorado Park West Senior Center on Tuesday, August 7, at 12:30 p.m.

Admission is free. Info: (562) 433-1734.