THEATER
• 12 Angry Men,
• What Is Murder?
• The Addams Family
Throughout the month
The Barn Theatre
The Barn is offering a musical, a comedy and a courtroom drama in June:
• 12 Angry Men, a drama about a jury of a dozen men deliberating the fate of a teenager charged with murder, will be staged June 3–8.
• What Is Murder?, a comedy and mystery about who killed one of four former Jeopardy! champions who meet for a weekend to prepare for the Tournament of Champions, will be performed June 10–15.
• The Addams Family, a musical based on the ghoulish family with an affinity for the macabre, will be staged June 17–29.
Show times are 8 p.m. Tuesday–Friday and 5 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $43–$51 and available at barntheatreschool.org or by calling 250-6984.
Ride the Cyclone
Through June 15
Farmers Alley Theatre
In this musical, six teens encounter a mechanical fortune teller who offers a challenge to them for a chance to return to the living after they’ve died in a freak accident aboard a rollercoaster.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. May 30–31, June 5–7 and June 12–15 and 2:30 p.m. June 1, 8 and 15. Tickets are $25–$51 and available at farmersalleytheatre.com or by calling the box office at 343-2727.
Silver Foxes
June 20-28
Dormouse Theatre
An ensemble of queer men in their 60s must navigate stray cats, online hook-up sites and real-estate-ravenous neighbors as they undertake a rescue of their friend who is living in a homophobic assisted-living facility.
Show times are 7 p.m. June 20, 21, 27 and 28. Tickets are $25 and available at dormousetheatre.com.
MUSIC
Douce Dame Jolie
June 1
Early Music Michigan
Early Music Michigan will perform music from the Middle Ages in a performance titled Douce Dame Jolie: Christine de Pizan & Guillaume de Machaut in Dialogue at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church, in downtown Kalamazoo.
The performance will include poetry by proto-feminist Christine de Pizan in dialogue with motets and chansons by French Ars Nova composer Guillaume de Machaut.
Tickets are available at earlymusicmichigan.org on a pay-as-you-will basis, with suggested prices of $15–$50.
Love, Joy & Peace
June 4
Blendings Vocal Ensemble
Accompanied by a live jazz trio, the vocal ensemble will present songs that express love, joy, sorrow and passion in this performance at 7:30 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Civic Auditorium.
Tickets are $20 and available from a Blendings member or at the door. For more information, visit facebook.com/BlendingsEnsemble.
Amit Peled & Daniel del Piño
June 6
Fontana Chamber Arts
Internationally renowned cellist Amit Peled will be joined by leading Spanish concert pianist Daniel del Piño in this performance at 7:30 p.m. at Western Michigan University’s Dalton Center Recital Hall.
The program will include works by Grieg, Kopytman, Fauré and Strauss.
Tickets are $5–$30 and available at fontanamusic.org or by calling 250-6984.
• An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma
• Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets
June 2 & 7
Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
The KSO appeals to the young and not-as-young with two concerts in June.
For those lucky enough to have secured a ticket (as very few tickets were still available at press time), legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma will perform with the orchestra at 7 p.m. June 2 in Miller Auditorium. Ma, whose musical career has spanned more than five decades, is recognized as one of the most remarkable contemporary cellists and composers.
The KSO’s second performance this month will be June 7, when it performs John Williams’ score to the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the movie is projected on a 40-foot-wide screen. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. at Miller Auditorium, and tickets are $57–$146 and available at kalamazoosymphony.com.
Richard Goode & Sarah Shafer
June 18
The Gilmore
Accomplished artists of two generations will perform together in this concert at 7:30 p.m. at Kalamazoo College’s Stetson Chapel.
Grammy-winning pianist Richard Goode will be joined by soprano Sarah Shafer for a program featuring music by Fauré, Brahms and Schubert.
Goode, a leading interpreter of works by Mozart and Beethoven, won a Grammy Award in 1983 for the Brahms Sonatas recorded with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. Shafer has had leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera and has sung with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and at the Spoleto Festival USA.
A concert preview by Zaide Pixley will be offered at 6:30 p.m. in the Olmstead Room, in the college’s Mandelle Hall.
Concert tickets are $10–$55 and available at thegilmore.org.
Outdoor Concerts
Throughout the month
Various venues
Numerous free outdoor concerts are happening at more than a dozen venues across the region this month. The scheduled shows and locations are:
• Hi-Views, 5 p.m. June 4, Gilmore Car Museum, 6865 Hickory Road, Hickory Corners
• Out of Favor Boys and DJ Mel, 5:30 p.m. June 4, Bates Alley, located between Edwards Street and Portage Road, downtown Kalamazoo
• The Insiders: A Tribute to Tom Petty, 6 p.m. June 5, Overlander Bandshell, 7810 Shaver Road, Portage
• Kalamazoo Concert Band, 4 p.m. June 8, Bronson Park
• Bronk Bros., 6 p.m. June 8, Texas Drive Park, 6603 Texas Drive, Texas Corners
• Shelagh and Robbie Brown, 5 p.m.June 11, Gilmore Car Museum
• Kalamazoo Kittens and DJ Conscious, 5:30 p.m. June 11, Bates Alley
• Old Hank’s Son and McKinney and Brown, 5:30 p.m. June 11, Vicksburg
• Pinter Whitnick, 11:30 a.m. June 13, Bronson Park
• BlueBack, 6 p.m.; Serita’s Black Rose, 8 p.m.; June 13, Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 145 E. Water St., downtown Kalamazoo
• DJ Kamoflauge & MTB Kipsey, DK Morris, and Blacq Cattt, 6:30 p.m., June 14, Northside Association of Community Development, 612 N. Park St.
• Special Guest, 5 p.m. June 18, Gilmore Car Museum
• Kandace DC Lavender and Friends with DJ Boogie, 5:30 p.m. June 18, Bates Alley
• Kitten and The Tonics and Gemini Moon, 5:30 p.m. June 18, Vicksburg
• The Kennedy Affair, 11:30 a.m. June 20, Bronson Park
• Otsego Jazz Ensemble, 4 p.m. June 22, Bronson Park
• Moonshot, 6 p.m. June 22, Flesher Field gazebo, 3664 S. Ninth St., Oshtemo Township
• The Mickeys, 5 p.m. June 25, Gilmore Car Museum
• Zion Lion and DJ Conscious, 5:30 p.m. June 25, Bates Alley
• Hipposonics and Tony Fields and Doug Decker, 5:30 p.m. June 25, Vicksburg
• Carrie McFerrin, 11:30 a.m. June 27, Bronson Park
• Dana Scott, 5 p.m.; The Iconix, 6:30 p.m.; June 27, Celery Flats Pavilion, 7335 Garden Lane, Portage
• Kalamazoo Scottish Festival Pipe Band, 6:30 p.m., Kindleberger Park,122 N. Riverview Drive, Parchment
The shows are part of the Summertime Live! concert series, a collaboration of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, area municipalities & organizations, and the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. The full summer concert schedule is available at kalamazooarts.org/summertime-live.
VISUAL ARTS
New Exhibitions
Opening June 7 & 14
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
The KIA will open two new exhibitions this month.
Leo Villareal: Interstellar opens June 7 and will showcase works by the digital art pioneer and light sculptor. Villareal is renowned for his large-scale, site-specific light installations.
The exhibition will run through Sept. 21.
The West Michigan Area Show, an annual juried exhibition of works by area visual artists, will be on view from opening night on June 13 through Sept. 14. The juror of this year’s show, Detroit artist and teacher Hubert Massey, selected works from more than 300 submitted entries, ranging from paintings, prints and photos to mosaics, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture and mixed-media works.
Massey, whose fresco murals can be seen at Grand Valley State University, the Flint Institute of Arts and the Detroit Athletic Club, will give a talk at 6 p.m. June 19 at the KIA.
The gallery hours at the KIA are 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Thursday; and noon–4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5–$10.
Twenty
June 6–Aug. 22
Kalamazoo Book Arts Center
Works associated with the number 20 that have been created by members of Southwest Michigan Printmakers will be on display in the KBAC’s gallery.
This exhibition celebrates the Book Arts Center’s 20th anniversary and will showcase a variety of traditional and non-traditional printmaking techniques.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday–Friday or by appointment. For more information, visit kalbookarts.org.
KIA Fair & Art on the Mall
June 6 & 7
Downtown Kalamazoo
These simultaneous art fairs, with nearly 200 artists participating, serve as part of the official kickoff to summer in downtown Kalamazoo.
The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair, in Bronson Park, will have more than 120 artists displaying their works in a variety of media, including painting, photography, woodworking, jewelry and sculpture. The Arts Fair will run from 3–8 p.m. June 6 and 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 7. For more information, visit kiarts.org.
A block away, Art on the Mall, hosted by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, will feature works by 60 artists on the Kalamazoo Mall, plus art demonstrations and live entertainment. Art on the Mall will run from noon–8 p.m. June 6 and 9 a.m.–5 p.m. June 7. For more information, visit kalamazooarts.org/art-on-the-mall.
LITERATURE
Author Talks
Throughout the month
Various venues
Two novelists and a poet are among the authors who will give readings and sign books in the area this month.
• Donald Lystra, author of the 2025 Michigan Notable Book Searching for Van Gogh, will give readings from his novel at 6 p.m. June 4 at Comstock Township Library and 6 p.m. June 5 at Vicksburg District Library. This latest of Lystra’s novels, set in 1963 in the industrial Midwest, tells a story of love, loss and self-discovery amid the turbulent spirit of the era, according to an Amazon summary.
• Elise Durham, the author of Maya & Natasha, will give a reading at 6 p.m. June 24 at Portage District Library. Her novel is about twin sisters born during the siege of Leningrad in 1941 who grow up to be competitive ballet dancers. Registration is required. To register, call 329-4544 or visit portagelibrary.info.
• Author, poet and Kalamazoo native Marcel Fable Price will speak about his new poetry book, New American Monarch, at 6:30 p.m. June 18 at This Is a Bookstore, 3019 Oakland Drive. (Learn more about Price and his book in Encore‘s Back Story, on page 38).
COMEDY
Improv Performances
Throughout the month
Crawlspace Comedy Theatre
June will be a funny month for improv fans as Crawlspace has a full slate of shows on tap. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition building, 315 W. Michigan Ave., and, unless noted, tickets are $2–$15. The scheduled performances are:
• Blunder Bus and Joyce II Men, June 6
• Crawlspace Eviction, June 13–14
• The Trial: Courtroom Comedy, June 20
• Oh Hey! and Baby Steps, June 21
• Dust Bunnies Sketch Comedy, June 26–28
For tickets or more information, visit crawlspacecomedy.com.
