Festival of Monsters features film screenings
Monsters' Masquerade Ball is also on tap
Who knew that UC Santa Cruz even had a “Center for Monster Studies,” much less that it is producing a three-day festival this month?
Called the “2022 UC Santa Cruz Festival of Monsters,” it will be held May 20-22 and will include staged theater readings, films, a multi-media show — and a Monsters' Masquerade Ball.
Most events take place on the UCSC campus, with the Ball scheduled to be held at The Tannery's World Arts and Dance Center. All events are free except for the final one, a performance of “Amduat: The 12 Hours of Ra.” (The masquerade ball is free but requires a reservation.)
The first event of the weekend is the screening of the silent German film, “Der Golem,” at 7 p.m. in room 108 of UCSC's Digital Arts Research Center (DARC). The film is considered a landmark of early horror cinema and follows the story of a rabbi who conjures up a clay monster to protect people from a pogrom.
At 9 a.m. Saturday, a panel will take up the topic of “Monstrous Nationhood” in DARC 308. Moderated by UCSC Professor Elizabeth Swensen, the panel will discuss anti-colonial revisionism in the film “La Llorona,” cartography as violence in Bram Stoker's “Dracula,” and monsters in Miyoshi, Japan.
UCSC Theatre Arts instructor Kristen Brandt offers a staged reading of her new play, “Grendel's Mother,” a feminist adaptation of “Beowulf,” at 11 a.m., also in DARC 308. Directed by Brandt, a number of UCSC faculty and students including Patty Gallagher and Zoe Adams, are in the cast.
The same venue will be used at 1:30 p.m. by Riva Lehrer who will read from her memoir, Golem Girl.” Known for her portraiture of disabled bodies, Lehrer says her stories describe her becoming “the monster I was always meant to be.”
Following that event comes a roundtable discussion moderated by Monster Studies Center Director Michael M. Chemers on “Making the Contemporary Monster.” Several people, some in person, some on Zoom, will participate in this conversation about monsters in the modern age.
Saturday concludes with the Monsters Masquerade Ball at 8 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite monster, and prizes will be awarded for best costumes. Sign up for the Ball at www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/festival.
A special performance of Laura Boutros' “Amduat: The 12 Hours of Ra” closes the festival on Sunday at 3 p.m. “Amduat” is an immersive multi-media show that takes audiences on a guided journey to experience both order and chaos. Egyptian figures of the Pharaonic Era will escort theatergoers on a “docent tour.”
It will be held in UCSC's Theater Arts eXperimental Theater. Tickets are $8-$18 and can be purchased at www.ucsctickets. com. Check out the UCSC website for more information about the production.
All UCSC COVID-19 policies (including wearing masks) apply to the Festival of Monsters events. Students must have a Green Clearance Badge and visitors must show proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test. For details, go to: www.arts.ucsc.edu/ covid-protocols.