Mo`olelo Blog

There are so many people who are volunteering their time, energy, expertise and passion to help us bring Night Sky to life – from helping us develop the education curriculum, to introducing us to donors, to writing grants to sharing their own experiences with brain injury for dramaturgical purposes, to spreading the word about the show. As I create a list of these individuals I am overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone involved – I’m almost afraid to write this list for fear that I may inadvertently leave someone out. If I do, please forgive me – and let me know so I can be sure to properly acknowledge you in the playbill!! I’m listing only first names here in case some folks don’t want their activities floating around the internet. Full names will be listed in the playbill unless otherwise notified.

Mahalo to:

Tom

Susan

Stephanie

Don

Jane

Jill

Lisa

Kris

Shelly

Leah

Robert

Ray

Jerome

Clair

Michael

Dave

Connie

Ellayne

Carole

Pamala

Bill

Jennifer

Maureen

Sharon

Sue

Beverly

Aida

Rickey

Robin

Margie

Pat

Janet

Richard

SDBIF Board

Today we received a wonderful surprise in the Mo`olelo PO Box: a $5,000 anonymous donation to be applied for general operating expenses! The donation came from a donor advised fund through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. We have absolutely no idea who the person(s) behind the contribution may be, but on the chance that the generous donor happens to stumble upon our blog, we’d like to say a huge MAHALO to you! The donation will be put to very good use. Raising funds for general operating expenses is one of the more difficult things for us to do as most donors prefer to fund projects. However, behind all those projects are general operating costs like workers comp and other insurance, payroll taxes, office rent and supplies, administrative salaries, etc., and these items really add up. Paying the Social Security employer contributions or buying reams of recycled copier paper may not seem glamorous, but these and other operating expenses ensure that our projects can take place. So, to the anonymous and generous benefactor, thank you, thank you truly from the bottom of our hearts. You’ve done so much to help us advance our mission.

Single tickets for Night Sky are now on sale! Three performances are already sold out! You may get your tickets at: http://www.moolelo.net/stage/stage.html

In 2006, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company produced Since Africa, Mia McCullough’s beautiful play about a lost boy of Sudan resettling into life in urban America. The play was a huge success, selling out before we even opened. Louis Spisto, the CEO/Executive Producer of The Old Globe, saw that production and, in October 2007, approached Mo`olelo’s Artistic Director, Seema Sueko, about directing the play as part of The Old Globe’s 2008-09 winter season! The news is finally public and you can read all about it here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080518/news_1a18globe.html

It’s a tremendous opportunity for Sueko, and an honor for a show that was seen so recently at Mo`olelo to be picked up at The Old Globe. This won’t be a remount, but rather an original staging for The Old Globe’s audiences. The production will run from January 24 - March 8, 2009.

Board members Elaine and Rashim spent their Friday at Qualcomm, Inc, staffing the Mo`olelo table at the QLife Fair. They handed out Hawaiian shell leis, coupons to Night Sky, and signed up volunteers. Qualcomm has been a generous supporter of Mo`olelo since 2005, and we just received word that they will be supporting our work with Night Sky, too!

The Qualcomm Corporate Giving Team is an incredible group of women who do so much to better the lives of everyone in San Diego through their work. Here’s one of them, Sarah, with Mo`olelo Board Member Elaine and Artistic Director Seema:

MAHALO, QUALCOMM!!

DramaBiz (www.dramabiz.com) posted a video interview they did with Mo`olelo about our greening initiative. You can find it on their website: www.dramabiz.com.

Goin’ Green in Your Theatre

An Interview with DramaBiz Magazine and Mo’olelo’s Seema Sueko

Editor-in-Chief Joel Dorr interviews Seema Sueko of Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company on how they started the transition to becoming a more environmentally-conscious theatre company.

We just ended another session of Your Mo`olelo Playwriting Class on Tuesday. The students were fabulous and creative and inspiring. Here are a couple of them working on an impulse writing exercise…. yes, that is wine and pizza in the photo… essential playwriting tools, ya know.

Here they are, the creative team behind Mo`olelo’s visual branding: Photographer Nick Abadilla and Graphic Designer Lisa Sarkees of Studio L. With them is Night Sky director Siobhan Sullivan.

What are they looking at? …..

…. the very beginnings of the branding for the show:

All shot at the lovely studio of Abadilla Photography.

Stay tuned for the final image.

source: http://www.medem.com/MedLB/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ0ZFP46JC&sub_cat=75#WERNICKE’S%20AREA

We’ve been thinking about the brain as we prepare for Night Sky – looking at images, trying to comprehend aphasia. A good description of aphasia can be found here http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/aphasia.asp

Aphasia is caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Many times, the cause of the brain injury is a stroke. A stroke occurs when, for some reason, blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Brain cells die when they do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and important nutrients. Other causes of brain injury are severe blows to the head, brain tumors, brain infections, and other conditions of the brain.

Individuals with Broca’s aphasia have damage to the frontal lobe of the brain. These individuals frequently speak in short, meaningful phrases that are produced with great effort. Broca’s aphasia is thus characterized as a nonfluent aphasia. Affected people often omit small words such as “is,” “and,” and “the.” For example, a person with Broca’s aphasia may say, “Walk dog” meaning, “I will take the dog for a walk.” The same sentence could also mean “You take the dog for a walk,” or “The dog walked out of the yard,” depending on the circumstances. Individuals with Broca’s aphasia are able to understand the speech of others to varying degrees. Because of this, they are often aware of their difficulties and can become easily frustrated by their speaking problems. Individuals with Broca’s aphasia often have right-sided weakness or paralysis of the arm and leg because the frontal lobe is also important for body movement.

In contrast to Broca’s aphasia, damage to the temporal lobe may result in a fluent aphasia that is called Wernicke’s aphasia. Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia may speak in long sentences that have no meaning, add unnecessary words, and even create new “words.” For example, someone with Wernicke’s aphasia may say, “You know that smoodle pinkered and that I want to get him round and take care of him like you want before,” meaning “The dog needs to go out so I will take him for a walk.” Individuals with Wernicke’s aphasia usually have great difficulty understanding speech and are therefore often unaware of their mistakes. These individuals usually have no body weakness because their brain injury is not near the parts of the brain that control movement.

A third type of aphasia, global aphasia, results from damage to extensive portions of the language areas of the brain. Individuals with global aphasia have severe communication difficulties and may be extremely limited in their ability to speak or comprehend language.

In San Diego, a good resource for support and information about brain injury is The San Diego Brain Injury Foundation. You can find them here: www.sdbif.org.

Night Sky Director Siobhan Sullivan and Lighting Designer Jason Bieber met today at the Mo`olelo office to sign contracts and kick off design discussions. …Yes, the look on their faces is one of disdain for the camera woman, Artistic Director Seema Sueko, ever present with her camera for blog-shots – BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!