MUSIC
Summertime Live
Throughout the month
Various venues
Free outdoor concerts offering a variety of music genres can be heard this month. The scheduled performances are:
- Matt Gabriel, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 2, Bronson Park.
- The Concert Truck, 5–7 p.m. Aug. 2, Bronson Park.
- The Nathan Moore Affair, 4–5 p.m. Aug. 4, Bronson Park.
- Schlitz Creek, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4, Kindleberger Park,122 N. Riverview Drive, Parchment.
- Hired Hands, 6 p.m. Aug. 4, Flesher Field, 3664 S. Ninth St., Oshtemo Township.
- Retrovibe, 5 p.m. Aug. 7, Gilmore Car Museum, 6865 Hickory Road, Hickory Corners.
- Greg Cordes and The Caribbean Soul Experience, 5:15 p.m. Aug. 7, by Vicksburg Municipal Building, 126 N. Kalamazoo Ave., Vicksburg.
- The Skeletones & DJ Conscious, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 7, Bates Alley, between Edwards Street and Portage Street, downtown Kalamazoo.
- The Motortown All-Stars, 7 p.m. Aug. 8, Overlander Bandshell, 7810 Shaver Road, Portage.
- i.am.james, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 9, Bronson Park.
- Celeste Allison, 6 p.m. Aug. 9, outside the State Theatre, 404 S. Burdick St.
- Grace Theisen, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 11, Kindleberger Park.
- LaSoulful Rock, 3 p.m. Aug. 14, Richland Area Community Center, 9400 East CD Ave., Richland.
- The Grace Theisen Trio, 5 p.m. Aug. 14, Gilmore Car Museum.
- John Louis Good & Rose City Troubadours and Allie Garland & Sean Gibson, 5:15 p.m. Aug. 14, Vicksburg.
- Minor Element, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 14, Bates Alley.
- Youth & Teen Talent Show, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 16, Bronson Park.
- Prior Noon, 4 p.m. Aug.18, Bronson Park.
- The Bronk Bros., 6 p.m. Aug. 18, Texas Drive Park, 6603 Texas Drive, Texas Township.
- Kari Lynch, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18, Kindleberger Park.
- The Hoot Owls, 3 p.m. Aug. 21, Richland Area Community Center.
- The Skeletones, 5 p.m. Aug. 21, Gilmore Car Museum.
- Acana, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 21, Bates Alley.
- Dylan Tolbert, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 23, Bronson Park.
- Dogpatch Lullaby, 4:30 p.m., and Megan Dooley, 6:45 p.m., Aug. 23, Celery Flats Pavilion, 7335 Garden Lane, Portage.
- Zion Lion, 8 p.m. Aug. 23, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 145 E.
Water St. - Skylight, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 25, Kindleberger Park.
- The Hoot Owls, 5 p.m. Aug. 28, Gilmore Car Museum.
- Work in Progress, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 28, Bates Alley.
- Kanin Wren’s Taylor Swift Experience, 7 p.m. Aug. 29, Overlander Bandshell, Portage.
- Grace Theisen Trio, 11:30 a.m. Aug. 30, Bronson Park.
For more information, visit kalamazooarts.org/summertime-live.
Selkie at the Dark Sky Park
Aug. 9
Connecting Chords Music Festival
There will be Celtic music and stargazing in Vandalia when the band Selkie plays at Dr. T.K. Lawless Park, 15122 Monkey Run St., between Jones and Vandalia at 8:30 p.m.
Selkie presents traditional and original Celtic music featuring flute, fiddle, bouzouki, banjo, guitar, accordion, harp and vocal harmonies. The band is composed of Jim Spalink, Michele Venegas and Cara Lieurance.
Lawless Park, located about 50 minutes southwest of Kalamazoo, is one of only three sites in Michigan to be officially designated an International Dark Sky Park.
Park admission is $5 per car, and donations to the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music will be accepted. For more information, visit connectingchordsfestival.com.
COMEDY
Improv & magic
Throughout the month
Crawlspace Comedy Theatre
There will be a lot of funny business happening in August at the comedy theater located at Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition, 315 W. Michigan Ave.
The scheduled performers and ticket costs are:
- Canned Champagne and Baby Steps, Aug. 2, $2–$10
- The Dispatch, Aug. 3, $2–$10
- Crawlspace Eviction, Aug. 9, $2–$15
- Chicago Improv Duo Invasion: She’s Boygan and Special Guest, Aug. 10, $2–$15
- Riddled with English, Aug. 17, $2–$10
- Joyce II Men, Aug. 23, $2–$10
- Blunder Bus, Aug. 24, $2–$10
- The Trial: Improvised Courtroom Comedy, Aug. 30, $2–$15
- Stuart MacDonald Comedy Magic, Aug. 31, $25
All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit crawlspacecomedy.com.
THEATER
Boeing Boeing
Oklahoma!
Heartbreak Hotel
Throughout the month
Barn Theatre
What do airplanes, Elvis and Oklahoma have in common? You’ll find them all onstage this month at the Barn Theatre in Augusta.
The Barn continues its run of Boeing Boeing, a show about a journalist with three fiancées, at 8 p.m. Aug. 1–3 and 5 p.m. Aug. 4.
Rodger and Hammerstein’s beloved musical Oklahoma! will take the stage from Aug. 6–19. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Aug. 6–10 and 13–17 and 5 p.m. Aug. 11 and 18.
A musical journey through the life of Elvis Presley will be presented in Heartbreak Hotel running at 8 p.m. Aug. 20–24 and 27–31 and 5 p.m. Aug. 25 and Sept. 1.
Tickets for each show are $43–$51 and available at barntheatreschool.org or by calling 731-4121.
We Are Here!
Aug. 10
Center Stage Theatre
This Comstock community theater company will celebrate its 50th season with a cabaret-style performance featuring songs from a variety of musicals and movies including Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, Annie and Little Shop of Horrors.
The show begins at 3 p.m. in Comstock Community Auditorium, 2107 N. 26th St. and tickets are $20. A celebration reception begins at 7 p.m. and tickets for the reception are $20.
To buy tickets or for more information, visit kzoocst.com.
Bambiland
Aug. 15–24
Face Off Theatre Company
This original production penned by Face Off co-founder Kendra Ann Flournoy will be presented at the Epic Center’s Jolliffe Theatre, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall.
Bambiland follows Nic, a 28-year-old New York City- based journalist who returns to Detroit after being away for 10 years to do a story about overtaxed homeowners, only to have to face why she left her hometown in the first place.
Flournoy is a Detroit-bred writer, artist, administrator, and educator, who received her a bachelor’s degree in English and an MFA in playwriting from Western Michigan University. Her plays have been staged in Kalamazoo, Detroit, Chicago and New York.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16, 17 and 24 and 2 p.m. Aug. 18.
Tickets are on a “pay-what-you-wish” basis and available online at faceofftheatre.com.
Our Favorite Things
Aug. 23–Sept. 14
New Vic Theatre
This production will bring stories and music from a range of genres including folk, country and contemporary tunes to the intimate setting of the New Vic Theatre, 134 E. Vine St.
Show time is 8 p.m. Aug. 23, 24, Sept. 6, 7, 13 and 14 and tickets are $32. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit thenewvictheatre.org.
VISUAL ARTS
Ongoing Exhibitions
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts:
- West Michigan Area Show, through Aug. 18.
- Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass, through Aug. 25.
- The Anniversary Gift: Promised Gifts from the Collection of Joy & Timothy Light, through Sept. 1.
Pen Dragons Calligraphy Guild: Synchronicity, through Aug. 16, Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.
