Since its inception, the Foo Foo Festival has been all about the visual art and dance, and this year’s line up stays focused on all things artistic. Whether you’re looking for live art, ceramic art, glassblowers, digital artwork, theater, toe-tapping music, or even step, there’s plenty going on that you won’t want to miss. And with just 12 days to fit it all in, there’s no time to waste in putting together your artsy agenda.
This year’s Foo Foo Fest kicks off on November 1 with Women of Fire. The opening reception celebrates females who make art with fire, debunking longstanding stereotypes and gender biases that have been around for decades. A diverse group of female artists will be on hand—all of whom are known across the South for their crafts—and include a blacksmith, glassblowers, ceramic artists and a flame worker.
Also kicking off the annual celebration is an event that’s sure to turn up the heat for the more mature audience. The Skivvies is a late-night theatrical event that features a performance by entertainers in their underwear. Nick Cearley (of All Shook Up and Little Shop of Horrors fame) plays the ukulele, melodica, and guitar, while Lauren Molina (from Rock of Ages and Sweeney Todd) sings along to electric cello and kalimba. The troupe perform some songs that border on obscene, yet mixing them in with childlike favorites. The end result: a truly unique musical event that is sure to keep audiences intrigued.
A feel-good musical event that’s fun for the whole family is The Wright Brothers–Those Daring Young Men and Their Flying Machine!, which is being put on by the Pensacola Opera. The family-friendly performance encompasses education, inspiration and entertainment as it portrays the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright, America’s pioneers of aviation, and reminds audiences to never give up on your dreams.
Another can’t miss musical presentation is being presented by PenArts: See What I Wanna See. The musical combines murder, faith, lust and redemption into three unique tales that challenge the meaning of truth and contradictions.
Going on throughout the entire festival is Sunday’s Child’s UNITY project and Courage Wall, which is an interactive public art project that will be on display in downtown Pensacola at the Museum Plaza. The UNITY structure serves to celebrate culture uniqueness and strengthen relational ties by including 32 various posts that people can choose to identify with. Participants simply tie colorful ribbons to posts that reflect them, and eventually the ribbons will be intertwined to show what we all have in common.
CUBED Luminous will be held over four days (the 8th through 11th) and feature an opportunity for hands-on participation. The event features a 12’ by 18’ LED cube and 16 laser projectors that are projecting on four 8’ by 8’ cubes. During the day, visitors can get a chance to paint on a temporary wall and the small cubes and then return at night to see the artist projections.
For a livelier time there’s also Pensacola Stompfest. The Pensacola Stompfest Invitational Step Show will feature some of the finest steps and strolls from fraternities, sororities, and other groups across the country.
Literary fans are sure to want to make it over to the Pensacola Little Theatre to see DESIRE!, an over-the-top parody of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie by parody playwright Christopher Durang.
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