Program: An Evening with David Sedaris (May 2023)

ArtPower at UC San Diego presents performing arts that engage, energize, and transform the diverse cultural life of the university and San Diego.

Through vibrant, challenging, multi-disciplinary performances, ArtPower seeks to develop more empathetic students and community members who are better prepared to engage in the world around them through their participation in highquality artistic, educational, and engagement programs that broaden thinking and awareness, deepen understanding, and encourage new dialogues across UC San Diego and the community.

OUR IMPACT

• ArtPower brings artists from around the world into UC San Diego classrooms

• ArtPower provides students with free artist master classes

• ArtPower integrates artist-led discussions into on-campus curricula.

Special Event / USA

ArtPower presents

An Evening with David Sedaris

May 2, 2023 at 8 pm

Balboa Theatre

Opening

Matthew Ford, MFA '23 "27: How to Trust Yourself"

About the Artist

David Sedaris is one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is a master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers. Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and Calypso, which was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. He is the author of Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of fables with illustrations by Ian Falconer. He is also the author of an essay length ebook titled Themes and Variations. Each of these books was an immediate bestseller. He was also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. His pieces regularly appear in the New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” The first volume of his diaries Theft By Finding: Diaries (1977–2002) was a New York Times best-selling book. As a companion piece to the book, Jeffrey Jenkins published and edited an art book of Sedaris’s diary covers, entitled David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium. His book, The Best of Me, is a collection of 42 previously published stories and essays, about which novelist Andrew Sean Greer wrote in the New York Times: “You must read The Best of Me. It will be a new experience, knowing that enough time has passed to find humor in the hardest parts of life. More than ever—we’re allowed to laugh.” The second volume of his diaries, A Carnival of Snackery, Diaries (2003–2020) (Little Brown/Hachette, October 5, 2021) was also a New York Times bestseller and the audiobook was selected as part of Apple’s Best Audiobooks of the Year for 2021. His next book will be Happy-Go-Lucky (Little, Brown, May 31,2022).

Cover: Photo by Anne Fishbein

Sedaris and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. Sedaris has been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His audio recordings include “David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure” and “David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall.” A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.” In 2019 David Sedaris became a regular contributor to CBS Sunday Morning, and his Masterclass, David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor, was released. There are over 16 million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 32 languages. He has been awarded the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, Thurber Prize for American Humor, Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, Time 2001 Humorist of the Year Award, as well as the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In March 2019 he was elected as a member into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2020 the New York Public Library voted Me Talk Pretty One Day one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years.

Matthew Ford, M.F.A. '23

Matt Ford is a writer, artist, anthropologist, and educator from Detroit. They are completing their M.F.A. in Literary Arts at UC San Diego while working on their debut novel, Rapture In Blue. Matt is also the founder of 5D Publishing, LLC, which acclimates students, job seekers, and new authors to the writing process and digital publishing. Their work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, HuffPost, The Creative Independent, Art Journal, Chicago Reader, Kaleidoscoped Magazine, and elsewhere.

ARTPOWER DONORS 2022–23

CATALYST ($20,000+)

Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley

Elaine Galinson Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation

Bobbie and Jon Gilbert

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund  of the Jewish Community Foundation

Patricia and Christopher Weil  of The Weil Family Foundation

The Parker Foundation

CREATOR ($10,000–19,999)

Phyllis and Daniel Epstein

Ronald and Wynona Goldman

Jack Lampl

New England Foundation for the Arts

Charles and Marilyn Perrin

George Clement Perkins Endowment

ADVOCATE ($2,500–9,999)

Joan J. Bernstein ArtPower Student Engagement Endowment Fund

Maureen and C. Peter Brown

Anne Marie Pleska and Luc Cayet

Josephine Kiernan and Bjorn Bjerede

In Memory of Jennifer A. Dennis

Martha and Edward Dennis

Renita Greenberg and Jim Allison

Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore

Barbara and Sam Takahashi

Hamburger Chamber Music Series Endowment Fund

Jack Lampl

Eva and Doug Richman

Ruth S. Stern ArtPower  Student Engagement Fund

GUARDIAN ($1,000–2,499)

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch

Janice Steinberg and John Cassidy

Marilyn Colby

Beverly Freemont

Kim Signoret-Paar

CONTRIBUTOR ($500–999)

Janice Alper

Janice and Nelson Byrne

Consulate General of Israel

Charles Kantor

Marilies Schoelflin

Connie Beardsley

Phyllis and Edward Mirsky

Sharon Perkowski

Felize Levine

SPARK ($250–499)

James and Kathleen Stiven

Jess and Meg Mandel

Barry and Jennfer Greenberg

Mary L. Beebe

Charles Reilly

K. Andrew Achterkirchen

Paulyne D. Becerra

Turea Z. Erwin

Samuel and Theresa Buss

Natalee C. Ellars

Maya Ridinger

YORK SOCIETY

Donors who make provisions for ArtPower in their estate

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch

Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley

Ruth Stern

Kathryn Sturch

ARTPOWER STAFF DONORS

Carolena Deutsch-Garcia

Jordan Peimer

Kathryn Sturch

FOUNDATION/CORPORATE SPONSORS

CORPORATE SPONSORS

New England Foundation for the Arts

The Parker Foundation

Consulate General of Israel

Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore

POWERPLAYERS

PowerPlayers are an exceptional group of donors that have made a three year commitment to support ArtPower.

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch

Joan Bernstein

Marilyn Colby

Martha and Ed Dennis

Phyllis and Daniel Epstein

Elaine Galinson

Bobbie and Jon Gilbert

Renita Greenberg and Jim Alison

Eric Lasley and Judith Bachner

Sharon Perkowski

Kim Signoret-Paar

Paul and Edith H. Sanchez

Pat Weil and Christopher Weil

A portion of funding for ArtPower is provided by the UC San Diego Student Services Fee Committee.

Donor list and PowerPlayer list reflecting gifts and pledges allocated for September 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022.

ARTPOWER STAFF

Joanna Christian, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications, Campus Performance and Events Office

Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Associate Director of Development

Jennifer Mancano, Events & Performing Arts

Business Manager

Jordan Peimer, Artistic Director

Colleen Kollar Smith, Executive Director, Campus Performance and Events Office

Kathryn Sturch, Production Manager

Alyssa Villaseñor, Marketing Manager

Student Staff

Marketing and Graphic Design Assistants

Ashley Asadi ‘24

Holden Bailey ‘23

Yumei Feng ‘23

Tiffany Liang ‘23

Rachel Paner ‘24

Hieu Phan ‘25

Events Promotions Assistants

Paloma Diaz ‘24

Rain Dong ‘25

Ishiba Dube ‘26

Kathleen Hoang ‘25

Kellie Huang, ‘25

Kaylie Lam ‘25

Kristy Lee ‘23

Julie Li ‘25

Martica Manuel, ‘26

Alice Nguyen ‘26

Anne Nguyen ‘25

Niko Parker ‘24

Kadie Qi ‘25

Heidi Shin ‘25

Hao Wang ‘24

Angela Wu ‘24

Sasha Zabegalin ‘24

Media Assistants

Diego Pereya ‘26

Kieran Vu ‘25

Jules Yap ‘23

BECOME AN ARTPOWER SUPPORTER TODAY & ENJOY VALUABLE BENEFITS!

As we move into the new ArtPower 2022–23 live arts season, the generosity of our donors quite literally helps make our performances possible. Our donors also get to enjoy valuable benefits, see more here: bit.ly/artpower-benefits. Make a gift today by easily scanning the QR code.

Thank you for making ArtPower performances possible! All inquiries can be directed to our Associate Director of Development, carolena@ucsd.edu.