A blog about Arts & Entertainment.
Address: 706 Oak Street Bakersfield, CA 93311 Member Since: March 05, 2008 Last Signed In: September 16, 2008 Profile Views: 200 Blog Views: 278 ROCK FU is back at The Empty Space! Stand-up Comedy tonight at The Empty Space! Summer Picnic & Basket Auction! Why should Bakersfield care about The Empty Space? Two-Day Music Festival at The Empty Space! AUDITION NOTICE: Reefer Madness the Musical! Did you know? Recycling in Bakersfield March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 
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ROCK FU August 1st and 2nd at The Empty Space TENTATIVE LINEUPS: Friday, August 1st: Doors at 6:30PM, Show starts at 7PM Saturday, August 2nd: Doors at 12:30PM, Show starts at 1PM This rockin' two-day music festival has been such a success in the past that The Empty Space has decided to bring it back! We've got great lineups both days, with awesome bands representing a variety of genres. Show some support to your local musicians! Stop by to listen to some great music, check out the new gallery exhibit, and get your fill of pizza, $1 beers, and more. The Empty Space is located at 706 Oak Street (behind Pizzaville). Call 327-PLAY for more info. STAND-UP COMEDY SHOWS
"BAKERSFIELD STANDS UP"
July 5th
Help us support the local comedy scene! This stand-up show will feature a fantastic variety of comedic styles from all local entertainers, including Tyson Paul, Dane Forst, Chase Brockett, Joe Alaniz, and more! Admission is $5, and $1 beers will be served to patrons 21 and over. Doors open at 7:30; show starts at 8:00 PM. All proceeds benefit The Empty Space Theatre.
"STAND-UP: JOHN WELLS & FRIENDS"
July 30th
Join us in welcoming back Bakersfield-bred actor and comedian John Wells! This time, he's brought along several friends from New York and Los Angeles for what promises to be a great night of comedy! Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5 students, $10 adults. $1 beers will be served to patrons 21 and over. Doors open at 8:00; show starts at 8:30 PM. All proceeds benefit The Empty Space Theatre.
THE EMPTY SPACE’S SUMMER PICNIC & BASKET AUCTION! In an effort to bring back the annual “theatre picnics” of the past, The Empty Space would like to extend an invitation to all the theatres around town as well as ALL Bakersfield artists and their families! There will be lunch, games, prizes, raffles, face painting, and a preview performance of Reefer Madness: The Musical (family-friendly scenes only, of course!) To top it off, we’ll be auctioning off some delicious picnic baskets filled with homemade desserts and baked goods. Come hang out, eat, support the arts, catch up with old friends, and make some new ones! Bring water balloons and squirt guns to cool off afterwards! Picnic Lunch: Please RSVP at 327-PLAY to help us get an idea of how many people to expect. We’d love to see as many local artists in attendance as possible, so spread the word to your friends and family! What makes The Empty Space unique?
With seven different community theatres in the Bakersfield area alone - not to mention all of the school and professional productions that come to town - it can be tough to keep up with our local theatre scene. And despite the various marketing tactics employed by Bakersfield theatres, audience attendance and degree of media attention can be highly unpredictable. Upon entering The Empty Space for the first time, many people have remarked, “I didn’t even know this place existed!” Ultimately, we hope to reach as many people as possible, because The Empty Space Board of Directors passionately believes in the theatre’s vision and our offering to the artistic community.
The Empty Space works hard to create a true theatre community, providing a venue for actors to come together and read plays, exchange ideas and challenge and help each other grow as artists. Our yearly seasons are determined by the suggestions made by members of the community at open “Pitch Days,” held twice a year. The theatre supports all other live theatres in Bakersfield, offering free advertising space in every program for all shows in town - professional, community, and educational alike. We also have a fantastic art gallery, with new exhibits monthly. The ultimate vision of the Empty Space is to help rejuvenate theatre as an art form and to help stimulate the artistic appreciation for all art forms and all venues in Bakersfield.
When The Empty Space opened five years ago, it was immediately pegged as “the edgy theatre in town.” TES certainly continues to produce thought-provoking, challenging, and sometimes controversial material, but the theatre does not exist purely for shock value, and we want to be sure that the community is aware of all that we offer! The intention and mission of The Empty Space is simply to provide professional quality live theatre to the community of Bakersfield and to create an opportunity for local actors, directors and technicians to work in a creative environment that allows them to express themselves and their artistic ideas while encouraging them to continue to study and improve their craft. We invite all members of the community to get involved at the theatre; we love to see new faces at auditions, events and fundraisers!
We do pride ourselves on the wide range of options provided to local audiences: past seasons have included Shakespeare classics, professional puppet shows, late-night sketch comedy (both tame and mature), light-hearted comedies, family-friendly classics, dark comedies, wrenching dramas, experimental new plays, traditional musicals, unconventional musicals, music festivals, poetry, film and documentary screenings, gallery exhibits, stand-up comedy, karaoke nights, improvisational theatre, fairs, fundraisers, and more. We offer a venue and a home to artists who want to produce shows they feel passionate about, regardless of how commercial or “safe” they may (or may not) be. The arrangement of the theatre is unlike any other in town, and our patrons often comment that they enjoy the extreme intimacy of the space. While many productions allow for intricate sets and technical effects, others are set against a bare black stage with minimal set pieces and props, emphasizing instead the story and the characters.
The Empty Space has had a noticeable effect on the local artistic community, inspiring other theatres to begin offering more thought-provoking and avant-garde material (note the development of the new “Spotlight Series” at The Spotlight Theatre) and themed galleries (Bakersfield Community Theatre is now on board with a gallery of their own). TES is committed to the community. We have had benefits supporting such causes as the Kaiser Permanente Latino Association, funding mentoring and scholarship programs; The Kern Lifeline Project - an AIDS program; The Bakersfield AIDS Project; and the Bakersfield College Jazz Ensemble. We also worked with the Save-A-Teacher campaign to present The Miracle Worker at The Empty Space, and for the past five years we have taken part in the Worldwide V-Day Campaign to do our part to end violence against women and girls. So far, we have raised more than $15,000.00 for The Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault. We continue to look for opportunities to help the community!
“Setting Theatre Free”
Running a theatre is expensive, and very few theatres are able to survive on ticket prices alone. We hope to survive by the generosity of our patrons. We ask minimum donation of 5$ for students and $10 for adults, which is comparable to most other theatres in town, and a lot less expensive than theatres outside of our area. As far as we know, we are the only live theatre in North America that charges no admission, relying instead on donations, with no government assistance. It is important to us that everyone is able experience live theatre, regardless of his or her financial situation. The concept of “Setting Theatre Free” has everything to do with you. Without an audience, there is no live theatre, and so we invite members of the community to come for free. We ask you to pay at the end of the performance, and we encourage you to give only what you can. We also offer many rewards and benefits to our members and sponsors, because it is due to their help and generosity that we are able to continue Setting Theatre Free all year long. The Empty Space is a 501c3 Non-Profit Community Theatre and donations are tax-deductible (for more information on becoming a member or sponsor, feel free to call 327-PLAY). Additionally, The Empty Space is available to rent to outside groups for a very low flat or hourly rate, whether it’s an outside performance, sales presentation, awards ceremony, or something else… we welcome all mediums of visual and performing arts, as well as non-arts related events! If you have other ways you might be able to aid or become involved with the theatre, either through donations of money, time or energy, partnerships, or ideas on how to generate revenue, please let us know by phone or email at executive@esonline.org - we are always looking for new ideas!
And here's a look at the rest of the 2008 prime time season. We hope to see you there! APRIL: Molière classic The Bourgeois Gentleman
ROCK FU Two-Day Music Festival April 4th and 5th at The Empty Space All Ages Show! $5 Admission/Day $1 Beers
TENTATIVE LINEUPS: Friday, April 4th: Doors at 7PM, Show starts at 8PM
...and special guests! Saturday, April 5th: Doors at 1PM, Show starts at 2PM (lineups are subject to change)
This rockin' music festival has been such a hit in the past that The Empty Space has decided to bring it back! We've got great lineups both days, with awesome bands representing a variety of genres. Show some support to your local musicians! Stop by to listen to some great music, check out the new gallery exhibit, and get your fill of $1 beers and delicious snacks. Be sure to check back for updates to the blog, more details coming soon! The Empty Space is located at 706 Oak Street (behind Pizzaville). Call 327-PLAY for more info. Auditions for The Empty Space’s June production of Reefer Madness: The Musical are coming up! Please come prepared with a song to sing a cappella. Sides from the script will be provided for cold readings. The production runs June 6 - 28 and rehearsals will begin mid-April. Please email any questions you might have to the director, Jeremiah Heitman, at preacherlad@yahoo.com, or leave a comment on this blog.
Audition Times: Saturday, April 12th from 3:30PM to 6:30PM, and Sunday, April 13th from Noon to 3:00 PM
Like batteries, it's prohibited to dispose of fluorescent light bulbs in your home trash can. In fact, it's against the law. Instead, you should be taking them to the Kern County Special Waste Facility at 4951 Standard St. in Bakersfield. The facility is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. (The county operates a second facility on the first Saturday of the month at the Mojave Airport.) One small light bulb may seem insignificant, but throw hundreds in a landfill and you've got enough mercury to constitute a hazardous waste pile. You might sigh at the thought of making a special trip, but it's likely you have other items to take to the Special Waste Facility: It's also prohibited to throw out any of the following in the regular trash: paints, household pesticides, weed killers, pool chemicals, cleaning products (like Windex and bleach), mercury thermometers and electronic waste (which includes television, computers, laptops, printers, radios, microwave ovens, VCRs, mobile and cordless phones and answering machines). *** The Empty Space is hosting a RECYCLING DRIVE and YARD SALE this Saturday, March 8th from 8AM to 3PM (Click HERE for event details). Is the Special Waste Facility too far away from your home? Let us make the trip for you! Bring all of your recyclables to the theatre this Saturday and we'll make sure to dispose of them properly 
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