"Thinking Like a River" at Brower Center

May 17-August 31

Environmentalist, mountaineer and visionary David R. Brower changed the way our society thinks about natural places and, consequently, changed the world. In the year he would have been 100, we celebrate his legacy of activism with a special summer exhibition. The show features the exhibit format books pioneered by Brower, who believed that if people could experience natural places through powerful imagery, they would feel a greater sense of responsibility for protecting them.

With stunning nature photography from Bill Curtsinger, best known for capturing deep-sea life, and work by Joseph Holmes, celebrated landscape photographer, the exhibition magnifies the enduring power of art as a tool for advocacy.

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 10 am-5 pm; Sundays, 10 am-1 pm

Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, 809.0900

www.browercenter.org

A Hot Day In Ephesus

April 20 to May 19, 2012

By Vicki Siegel, directed By Bruce Coughran
A Hot Day in Ephesus is based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, which in turn is based upon a play by the Roman comic playwright Plautus, who has also given us the original of Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Ephesus is about two sets of twins; twin masters both named Antipholus and twin servants both named Dromio, each pair of which is separated by shipwreck, all eventually ending up in Ephesus where there is much opportunity for mistaken identities and comic farce aplenty!

For some who know Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's 1930's hit Boys from Syracuse based on the same theme, you'll find A Hot Day in Ephesus an update of an update, complete with a Motown number, a sassy tango and a rap. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm. Special Sunday Matinee 2 pm May 13th.

$15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave, 649-5999

www.aeofberkeley.org

Addison Street Windows: Doug Minkler's Biting the Hand that Bleeds You

through June/16

Exhibition of a collection Doug Minkler prints about UC's involvement in bomb manufacturing, support for apartheid, suppression of free speech, corporatization of education, and its $500 million grant from British Petrolium to form the Biosciences Institute and become the bioengineering center of the nation.

Also on display will be work pertaining to the occupy movement the US/Mexico Border War, pharmaceutical predators, Afghanistan and Fukushima.
Open 24 hours a day. 

free, Addison Street Windows, 2018 Addison Street

Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery

April 21-September 2, 2012

The Berkeley Arts Festival is happy to present
a new exhibition of the work of some of our most
creative visual artists.

Robert Brokl, paintings/prints
Mark Bulwinkle, painted steel screens
Art Hazelwood, linocuts
Roberta Loach, prints
Mari Marks, encaustic paintings

The reception will be held on May 20, 4-6pm

free, 2133 University Avenue

Berkeley Historical Society Exhibitions

April 29-September 29

Joanna Gewertz Harris, Ph.D, Bay Area dancer, dance historian and author of Beyond Isadora: Bay Area Dancing 1915-1965, will discuss the history of East Bay performers, choreographers and pioneers of todays dance community. The exhibit explores dance in the East Bay, including photos of Isadora Duncan, Duncan dance at the Temple of Wings, Partheneia dance at U.C. Berkeley, and the early modern pioneers at Mills College (Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Doris Humphrey). The exhibit also includes a video by Margaretta Mitchell, an interview with Frank Shawl, and archival footage of Hanya Holm. Jeanine Castello-Lin and Tonya Staros, Co-Curators.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Wheelchair accessible.

free, Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St, 848.0181

Kala Gallery: Visions from the New California

May 18-June 30, 2012

Artists: Iris Charabi-Berggren, Asad Faulwell, Marnia Johnston, Justin Lowman, Rebecca Lowry, crystal am nelson, Anja Ulfeldt, Meeson Pae Yang & Michiko Yao The Visions from the New California award is an initiative of the Alliance of Artists Communities and is supported by the James Irvine Foundation. Each year the awards program celebrates six outstanding California visual artists from diverse communities. The awardees are artists whose work may as yet be unfamiliar to a wide audience, but whose compelling visions help define California. Since 2004, the program has awarded funded residencies to forty-three artists working in a wide array of media and processes. Participating California residency programs include Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Exploratorium, Headlands Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, 18th Street Art Center and Kala.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 5:30pm; Saturday, Noon - 4:30pm

free, Kala Gallery, 2990 San Pablo Avenue

Shotgun Theater: "The Great Divide"

May 16-June 24

Inspired by Ibsen's An Enemy of the People, this new play by Adam Chanzit examines the issues around hydraulic fracturing and the complicated stories that are currently evolving across America as this industry becomes prevalent. In Doctor Katherine Stockmann's hometown, a natural gas boom lifts the economy, but she discovers it may come at a horrible human cost. The answers to one communitys ills are more complicated than first meet the eye.

The cast of The Great Divide features Samuel Berston, Hugo Carbajal, Sabrina De Mio, Joe Estlack, Luisa Frasconi, Michaela Greeley, Carl Holvick-Thomas, Paul Loomis, Edward McCloud, Sarita Ocon, Scott Phillips, Heather Robison & Ryan Tasker.

Previews May 16 - 24. Opens Friday, May 25. Runs Wednesday and Thursday at 7pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 5pm through June 24.

Bonus! The Great Divide Town Meeting - a short post-show discussion about hydraulic fracturing featuring various speakers from all sides of the issue will follow the Thursday and Friday performances beginning May 30th.

May 16-24 are Pay-What-You-Can. Regular performance nights are $20 Wednesday, $22 Thursday, $25 Friday and Sunday, $30 for Saturdays. , Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Avenue, 841-6500

www.shotgunplayers.org

Tilden Exhibit Celebrates Conservation Successes

through August 31

An art exhibit celebrating the successes of conservation in the region, state and nationally runs through August 31, 2012 at the Environmental Education Center in Tilden Regional Park. The show will feature works by 60 artists portraying plants and animals no longer listed as endangered species due to conservation efforts. The exhibit calls attention to the successful strategies of land managers, volunteers and rangers throughout the state and local parks. It will include both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works, including pastels, watercolors and oil paintings, as well as carved sculptures and mixed-media creations. Some of the featured species include the brown pelican, the tiger salamander, the salt marsh harvest mouse, and tule elk.

The exhibit sponsors include the East Bay Regional Park District and the Merritt College Environmental Management and Technology Department.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, and Memorial Day (May 28) 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

free, North End Central Park Drive, Tilden Regional Park

www.ebparks.org

UC Berkeley Art Museum: State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970

through June 17, 2012

Have you ever heard the sound of ice melting? State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970, part of the Pacific Standard Time initiative, offers an in-depth exploration of Conceptual art made by both Northern and Southern California artists during a pivotal period in contemporary art. The more than 150 works of art on displaymany rarely seen or newly discoveredare organized by themes, such as the street, the body, politics, private/public space, and language/wordplay, that elucidate this dynamic era in our history and foreshadow the concerns of young artists working today.

$10 Adults (18-64) $7 Non-UC Berkeley students Senior citizens (65 & over) Disabled persons Young adults (13-17) free for UC Berkeley students, faculty, staff and BAM/PFA members., UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Avenue