Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

SD Fringe: Red, White, and Blacklisted

Tale of the Weavers' exile on Main Street brings out an icon and highlights the power of a space.

SD Fringe: Red, White, and Blacklisted

  • RAW Space, 921 First Avenue, downtown
  • $5 - $10

Ever hear of the Weavers? No? Well for over a decade the government wanted to keep it that way.

The Weavers were a folk music group long before it became popular. They composed and sang songs “of labor and the American people.” They supported the unions and being anti-the-one-percent, they preached economic elevation of the poor.

The HUAC tribunal labeled them commie subversives, banned their music. Even though their original informer, Harvey Matusow, later recanted, they had to break up in 1952. They became exiles on Main Street.

Lee Hays co-founded (and named) the Weavers in 1948. The other members: Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Legend has it that while Hays and Seeger were at a political rally, they passed a notebook between them and wrote the iconic “If I Had a Hammer.”

They also popularized Zilphia Horton’s “We Shall Overcome” [you might want to Google her; she was a genuine source].

Kent Brisby may be one of San Diego theater’s least-known icons. He directed breakthrough productions at the old Marquis Public Theater in the early 80s. Currently the writer/director for Great Bear Productions, he served as Artistic Associate for Teatro Máscara Magica, and artistic director of Asian Story Theater.

Though he’s written several plays, among them The Musical Paul Gaugin and Salon (which is part of the SD Playwrights/Actors Alliance’s Breaking Waves #2 entry), and directed many, he rarely appears on stage. What he does as Lee Hays will make you ask "why?"

Hays sang bass for the Weavers. Brisby’s bass resonates through the RAW space as if from the bell of a tuba.

With his gray hair slicked back, and now-gentle, now-curmudgeonly demeanor, he looks and acts like Hays (and, as t’were, imbibes “artificial stimulants” like him as well).

Though there are times when the backstory feels a bit excessive (most of the biographical entries at the Fringe have this problem: undramatic swaths of exposition drag momentum down, especially in the late innings), Brisby’s a natural storyteller, engaging, personal, and always in character.

The bad news: Blacklisted has only one performance left (though Salon has several).

The good news: maybe people could, um, encourage Brisby to remount it here soon?

More good news: the RAW space is a makeshift marvel. It looks a bit like Peter Brook’s Les Bouffes du Nord theater in France. Paint peels from the walls and the 30-plus foot ceiling. Bleacher seats can accommodate maybe 100. The acoustics are vibrant.

Maybe people could, um, encourage the Spreckels to keep it going after the festival? For, like, many years, maybe?

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema

SD Fringe: Red, White, and Blacklisted

  • RAW Space, 921 First Avenue, downtown
  • $5 - $10

Ever hear of the Weavers? No? Well for over a decade the government wanted to keep it that way.

The Weavers were a folk music group long before it became popular. They composed and sang songs “of labor and the American people.” They supported the unions and being anti-the-one-percent, they preached economic elevation of the poor.

The HUAC tribunal labeled them commie subversives, banned their music. Even though their original informer, Harvey Matusow, later recanted, they had to break up in 1952. They became exiles on Main Street.

Lee Hays co-founded (and named) the Weavers in 1948. The other members: Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman, and Pete Seeger.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Legend has it that while Hays and Seeger were at a political rally, they passed a notebook between them and wrote the iconic “If I Had a Hammer.”

They also popularized Zilphia Horton’s “We Shall Overcome” [you might want to Google her; she was a genuine source].

Kent Brisby may be one of San Diego theater’s least-known icons. He directed breakthrough productions at the old Marquis Public Theater in the early 80s. Currently the writer/director for Great Bear Productions, he served as Artistic Associate for Teatro Máscara Magica, and artistic director of Asian Story Theater.

Though he’s written several plays, among them The Musical Paul Gaugin and Salon (which is part of the SD Playwrights/Actors Alliance’s Breaking Waves #2 entry), and directed many, he rarely appears on stage. What he does as Lee Hays will make you ask "why?"

Hays sang bass for the Weavers. Brisby’s bass resonates through the RAW space as if from the bell of a tuba.

With his gray hair slicked back, and now-gentle, now-curmudgeonly demeanor, he looks and acts like Hays (and, as t’were, imbibes “artificial stimulants” like him as well).

Though there are times when the backstory feels a bit excessive (most of the biographical entries at the Fringe have this problem: undramatic swaths of exposition drag momentum down, especially in the late innings), Brisby’s a natural storyteller, engaging, personal, and always in character.

The bad news: Blacklisted has only one performance left (though Salon has several).

The good news: maybe people could, um, encourage Brisby to remount it here soon?

More good news: the RAW space is a makeshift marvel. It looks a bit like Peter Brook’s Les Bouffes du Nord theater in France. Paint peels from the walls and the 30-plus foot ceiling. Bleacher seats can accommodate maybe 100. The acoustics are vibrant.

Maybe people could, um, encourage the Spreckels to keep it going after the festival? For, like, many years, maybe?

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.