Winter Nights East: a Performing Arts Challenge Event

A winter’s night is made better by entertaining each other!  Please join us for Winter Nights East, where performers (storytellers, poets, singers, instrumentalists, dancers, actors, etc.; solo or as a small group) will perform, and will set performance challenges for each other.  Performers are encouraged to evoke the time and place of their piece, and new performers are encouraged to participate.

In addition, their Excellencies of Carolingia will choose their new Court Performer during Winter Nights:  competitors will state their intent at the start of the event, so their Excellencies can judge their performances throughout the day.  Their Excellencies’ current champion I Sebastiani (TGCdATITEW) will help host the competition – in character.  The competitions will overlap (with separate judging), with bonus points given to court performer contestants for performances in the commedia themes of wealth, knowledge, love, and desire/food/foolishness, as well as for accepting challenges from the characters.

Challenges will take place in rounds, the number of rounds depending on the number of competitors.
* First round, please state who you are and where you come from, then perform a short (3-7 minutes) piece of your own choosing.
* Second round will begin head to head challenges, now that we all know each other a little bit.  Challenge pairs will be organized by the MOL.  Pairs will issue challenges to each other (topics such as “revenge”, “true love”, “anything *except* Shakespeare sonnets”, etc — be kind!), or if they’re stumped for a topic, we will have curated inspiration cards to use instead.  Each pair will have the length of the previous two performances to prepare to meet their respective challenges.  Rounds will continue until we run out of time.
* Final round will be another set of head to head challenges.  Depending on the available time, the final round may narrow the field to a subset of performers, based on the judging results of both Winter Nights and the Court Performer championship.

Winter Nights Dayboard Menu
* Chicken Stew- chicken, rice, chicken stock, carrots, celery, savory, bay, garlic, cinnamon (GF, DF, EF)
* Lentil soup- lentils, veg stock, spinach, kale, onion, garlic, lemon, tumeric (GF, vegan/parve)
* Bread rolls – flour, salt, water, yeast (commercially made)
.  Chickpea (gf) bread available upon *prior* request to Dayboard Cook
* Butter
* Various cheeses (at least one with veg rennet)
* Roasted vegetables – carrots, parsnips, beets, salt, olive oil, thyme (gf, parve)
* Gingerbread (gf) or shortbread (gf)
* Fresh fruit

Proposed Schedule:  10 am – 7 pm
* 10 am arrival
* 11 am Bardic Competition Round 1 begins
* ~1 pm Round 1 ends, Dayboard
* ~1:30 pm Round 2 starts
* ~3 pm Round 2 ends, Dayboard 2, and Order of the Moon Social Gathering
* ~3:30 pm Round 3 & Court Performer of Carolingia finals starts
* ~5:30 pm Round 3 ends
* 6 pm Announcements of winners, Baronial Court, and closing announcements

Site Opens: 10 AM
Site Closes: 7 PM

Event Location