Spring is really sneaking up on me. Like a bus. Honking.
Hard to believe it’s time for the 14th annual Westville Village ArtWalk. Befitting an area of town once renowned for carriage-building and buggy races, this year the ArtWalk has evolved beyond walking, moving into the world of wheels and mass transit by linking up with the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s four-year-old Exact Change performance series for a real traveling show on Saturday, May 7.
New Haven has a longstanding obsession with traffic and parking. There’s zoning. Towing. Downtown meters. The fervent bike community and their Critical Mass rides. The fury which greeted the city’s well-meaning attempts to plow and maintain order during the winter’s extraordinary snowstorms.
The infatuation with wheeled transport has naturally inspired performances from time to time. New Haven Theatre Co. did one-acts in open parking spaces, and also ran a puppet/mask performance near a park by using a car as the backstage and part of the stage. In one of its first years, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas hosted a Canadian street-theater troupe that dressed like the guys in “Ped Xing” signs.
Exact Change really talks the talk and rides the ride, putting local artists directly onboard city buses with captive audiences. This takes careful negotiations with CT Transit and real flexibility on the part of the performers. This year’s participants include:
• Choreographer Elaine Peters and her troupe CoCo-Carribe, riding the 12:56 B bus from the Amity Shopping Center to the corner of Whalley Ave. and Fitch St. (Westville), where it stops from 1:02-1:42 beofre heading down Whalley Ave. to New Haven Green.
• Mime performer Sharece Sellem, on the 12:15 p.m. J bus from Westfield Connecticut Post Mall (Door 5) down Kimberly Ave. to the Green.
• Hillhouse Opera Company on the 1:02 D bus starting at BJ’s Plaza (Universal Drive) in North Haven and proceeding down Grand Avenue to the Green, arriving there at 1:46 p.m.
• Spoken word artist Trishi Shuler taking a similar route to Sharece Sellem (in case the scenic beauty of New Haven malls is important to you) on the 12:50 p.m. O bus from Westfield Connecticut Post Mall (Door 5), hitting New Haven Green at 1:33 p.m. but taking Route One this time.
• There’s also a barbershop quartet, Silk ‘n’ Sounds, taking the 1:24 B bus from the Bull Hill Burlington Coat Factory in West Haven to the Green, then holding there until 2:40 p.m., when it moves on along Congress Avenue.
Admission is merely the cost of the ride, a buck and a quarter. Arts details here. Bus details here.