Friday, 5/2/97 ‘Picnic and Concert’ combines story, song and fun
Event features collaboration between storyteller, orchestra
By Kathleen Rhames Daily Bruin Staff Remember when a good meal
and a juicy story were all you needed to get through the day? Mom
would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and play one of those
musical narrative records of your favorite fairytale. Although CDs
have since replaced records and you unfortunately now have to pack
your own lunch, UCLA’s Design For Sharing is making sure that every
kid-at-heart can still enjoy a good story. This Sunday, the
organization will present its fourth annual "Picnic and Concert
with the Orchestra," featuring the narrative talent of UCLA
Professor Robert Winter and UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra conductor
Jon Robertson. The outdoor picnic will take place on the grassy
lawn of Schoenberg Plaza, where families can bring their own lunch
or buy it there. And, in the tradition of picnics, there will be
free lemonade and cookies for people to snack on. The concert
itself will be held in Schoenberg Hall. Although it is primarily
geared toward children, organizers emphasize that this is a family
event intended to encourage parents and children to better
appreciate the music and instruments of an orchestra. Performing
the descriptively enchanting scores of "Peter and the Wolf" and
"Rodeo," the Philharmonia Orchestra will accompany Robert Winter’s
narration as he paints a vivid story against the backdrop of the
music. "Robert Winter lives and breathes a story," says UCLA Design
For Sharing founding director Mimi Perloff. "When he talks about an
instrument, you get so excited you want to start taking lessons.
When he talks about ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and he describes that
wolf, by golly you can see that wolf and you know that wolf is
there." While the "Picnic and Concert" event is only 4 years old,
Design For Sharing has been producing community performances for 27
years. Perloff, who was married to the late Harvey Perloff who
started UCLA’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning,
founded Design For Sharing in 1969. Since then, it has become
UCLA’s community outreach program for the performing arts,
producing 12 to 15 performances per year. Fund-raising efforts and
grants enable children and adults to experience such concerts which
normally would be too expensive for them to afford. Because there
has been a gradual decline in support for the performing arts,
Perloff feels it is important to aim performances at younger
audiences who have a more likely potential for developing an
interest. "Children are like sponges," Perloff says. "If they’re
exposed to something, it stays with them for the rest of their
lives. One of the great tragedies is that if we don’t develop
audiences for the performing arts, we won’t have live performances.
Children are the audience of the future." This certainly seems the
case given the sold-out performances year after year. According to
orchestra conductor Jon Robertson, children are mesmerized by
Winter’s narration of musical tales and eagerly volunteer to
participate in the show. With "Peter and the Wolf," Winter calls on
small audience members to help him act out the story of the young
Peter, who sneaks into the forest with his grandfather’s rifle to
shoot the salivating, snarling wolf. Playing small forest animals,
the children become part of the story and act surprisingly without
fear or inhibition on stage. "They can’t wait to get up there,"
Robertson says. "Music plays such an important part of our lives,
and I think that if you can get kids to look at all kinds of music,
it broadens their vision and lays the foundation for later
audiences and creates opportunity to enjoy music on that level."
Since its first show four years ago, Design For Sharing has worked
with the UCLA music department in putting together different annual
events. Each year, the concert draws sold-out crowds of 500 or
more. Organizers are pondering the idea of expanding future
performances in order to make them more accessible to a wider
audience. For now, Design For Sharing is content with putting on a
show that is both entertaining and educational for children of all
ages. "Without the performing arts we are dead," Perloff says.
"Theater, music and literature enrich us as human beings. It’s such
a joy to watch the faces of the children as they listen to Robert
and Jon, knowing that they love the experience of being at a live
performance." MUSIC: UCLA’s Design For Sharing presents "Picnic and
Concert with the Orchestra" at Schoenberg Hall May 4 at 1 p.m.
There will be a picnic at noon. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5
for children. For more information call (310) 825-2101.