Also this issue: Northern Lights A report from Toronto’s World Stage festival. -Toby Zinman Are You Hot? Two artists answer that question with technology, not washed-up celebrity judges. -Robin Rice No Show -Patrick Rapa La Traviata -David Shengold Mamma Mia! -Debra Auspitz "Back to the Future" at SkateNerd Gallery -Brian White Miami City Ballet -Janet Anderson Faust -Peter Burwasser

May 1- 7, 2003

artsbeat

compiled by Debra Auspitz

Philly arts fan and marketing professional Vicki Solot has always been interested "in people’s real stories and works of art that [are] translations of those stories." In 2000, Solot founded Blue Sky, an organization dedicated to the art of memoir. For the last two years, Solot and Blue Sky have produced the First Person Festival of Memoir in the Arts, an affair that has doubled in length, number of events and participants since its inaugural year. This year’s fest features a roster of lectures and readings by memoir writers and readers, from a panel discussion on the line between memoir as art and memoir as therapy to an irreverent Mother’s Day reading by Brenda Cullerton that promises to address that fact that "they just don’t make greeting cards for the way most people feel about their mothers." Or check out the reading by Shoba Narayan from her book Monsoon Diary -- A Memoir with Recipes that includes a meal at the yummy Old City Indian restaurant Shivnanda (May 15).

In the next two weeks there will be plenty of opportunities for non-professionals to try their hand at memoir writing in workshops led by locals like playwright Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon. City Paper sponsored a contest for local memoir writers, with the theme "Out of Place." Hear from the winners at Borders on May 16.

Perhaps most interesting, though, are the programs and exhibits that focus on memoir that works outside of the literary medium, projects like "Ladies Only," on display in the ladies' room at the Reading Terminal Market (May 2­18). New York photographer Maxi Cohen has taken shots in women's bathrooms around the world (she appears in each photo as well), capturing everything from the bathroom at the Atlantic City bus station to the celeb-filled loo at the Golden Globe awards. What if a man wants to see the show? Solot laughs and says, "I guess men could peek in, it's actually in the foyer leading to the bathroom."

Other nontraditional programs include "Local Artists Celebrate Their Seats," a program presented in conjunction with the Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show at the Convention Center. Folks like Williams-Witherspoon and Fox's Gerald Kolpan will speak on their life experiences with chairs (May 3 and 4, 3 p.m.).

Theatrical memoir will also get its due, with OBIE-award winning actor/playwright Marc Wolf reading from his latest work, Getting Home, based on a trip across America in the wake of Sept. 11 (May 3, 7 p.m., and May 4, 1 p.m., The Gershman Y).

Plus, First Person offers tickets (some at a discount) for big-name shows like Elaine Stritch's performance at the Academy of Music (May 13-15) and local favorites like Freedom Theatre's Lackawanna Blues (through May 11). For a full schedule and ticket information, go to

www.blueskyarts.org.(debra@citypaper.net)