Regular readers of bloggy know that I'm a fan of this wonderful theater group known as The Civilians. Here is a search to give you an idea of all I've written in the past. There a few theater companies doing this mix of fun and political work. We have attended pretty much every production they've done since we first met them.

Their next benefit, titled Patriot Acts: An American Vaudeville is co-sponsored by The Nation and includes an amazing cast of performers. It takes place on May 8th at 7:30, and tickets start at $35 dollars.

We'll be attending the concert and the after-party. Join us if you can!

Here is the blurb from them:

The Civilians Announces One-Night-Only PATRIOT ACTS: AN AMERICAN VAUDEVILLE
with DJ Spooky, Ollabelle, Jackie Hoffman and More.
May 8th at The Skirball Center, NYU.

The Civilians theater company, The Nation magazine and the Skirball Center for Performing Arts present PATRIOT ACTS: AN AMERICAN VAUDEVILLE a one-night-only celebration in words and music of a great American tradition, proving there's another side to patriotism, the show revives the forgotten progressive history of many icons of American culture. Artists of The Civilians are joined by guest artists Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, Mary Testa, and Jackie Hoffman; guest speakers David Rakoff, Air America's Sam Seder and Victor Navasky, musical groups Ollabelle, Girlyman, Tom Kitt Band, Pierce Woodward Band, Atomic Grind Show and the acrobatic comediennes The Wau Wau Sisters. Visit www.thecivilians.org for more information.

PATRIOT ACTS brings the cultural legacy of the left back to life, revealing another side to songs like America The Beautiful, This Land is Your Land, and Born in the USA. From these classics, the show moves into contemporary songs by the guest performers and selections from The Civilians recent hit show (I Am) Nobody's Lunch.

About the Performers:

• PAUL D. MILLER aka DJ SPOOKY has remixed and recorded with a panoply of artists ranging from Metallica to Steve Reich to Killah Priest. His latest CD is Drums of Death, with Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Chuck D. of Public Enemy.

• Actress and comedienne JACKIE HOFFMAN has appeared in Hairspray on Broadway, Comedy Central's "Strangers With Candy," and numerous one-woman shows, including, If You Call This Living, The Kvetching Continues, Jackie Hoffman's Hanukkah, Jackie's Kosher Khristmas and Jackie's Valentine's Day Massacre.

• DAVID RAKOFF is a frequent contributor to Public Radio's This American Life and the author of the books Fraud and Don't Get Too Comfortable.

• NY Stage star MARY TESTA was most recently seen in Michael John LaChiusa's See What I Wanna See at the Public Theater; she's been nominated for two Tony awards, for performances in revivals of 42nd Street and Leonard Bernstein's On the Town.

• Comedian and writer SAM SEDER presently co-hosts "The Majority Report" with Janeane Garafolo on Air America.

• THE WAU WAU SISTERS' singular and saucy combination of aerial and circus skills, saucy cabaret and clingy costumes promise careening surprises and titillating fun; "They can mix martinis in a handstand, while smoking Pall Malls and thinking impure thoughts!"

• PIERCE WOODWARD, is a "left-leaning, twenty-something songslinger-fiddler," and formerly the bassist for the bassist for New York's "trad is rad" stringband, The Mammals

• GIRLYMAN, has been compared to a modern-day Peter, Paul & Mary with an edgy, quirky sense of humor and a harmony-driven style veering from contemporary folk to country rock to pop.

• OLLABELLE is an the East Village-based music collective whose inimitable rural American roots style draws from gospel, blues, country, and bluegrass which they re-imagine for the post-modern listener's ear.

• TOM KITT BAND's piano-based sound evokes has been compared to Dave Matthews, and Ben Folds, "The Tom Kitt Band seems to have everything you don't find in one place anymore - great chops, well-made and catchy songs, and on-stage charisma," -- VH1.

• VICTOR NAVASKY, publisher emeritus of The Nation, was the magazine's editor from 1978 to 1995 and publisher and editorial director from 1995 to 2005. He is the author of the award-winning books A Matter of Opinion and Naming Names.

• THE ATOMIC GRIND SHOW "Mixes rock, jazz, country and other musical styles with carny attitude." -- Time Out New York
  
  THE CIVILIANS is a New York-based, non-profit theater company that creates original work from investigations into real life, touring both nationally and internationally. Recent shows include the hit (I Am) Nobody's Lunch, a cabaret about how we know what we know in the age of (mis)information. Reviewing Lunch, The New York Times wrote, "Snappy, scrappy and performed with deadpan razzmatazz by a young cast of six, the latest model is a funny, searching, at times plaintive look at the dangerous blurring of fact and myth in American culture and the unease that is its natural by product."
  
  THE NATION is America's oldest weekly magazine and most read regularly published opinion journal. Established by abolitionists in 1865, The Nation has long been regarded as one of the country's definitive journalistic voices on politics, culture, books and the arts.

[photos above are of members of The Civilians, taken by Jacques-Jean Tiziou]