There’s No Excuse, Arts Grinches, for Missing ‘A Night in Fullerton’s’ Local Talent

Art cranks, beware. Organizers of “A Night in Fullerton”--tonight’s 4-hour showcase of music, dance, drama and visual art at a dozen-plus venues around the city--are about to spoil your best excuses for skipping the local arts scene.

You say tickets to county arts events are too expensive? All performances and exhibits at “A Night in Fullerton” are free. You say traffic is too heavy and parking is impossible? Ample parking is available at most sites, plus free shuttle bus service is offered among sites. You say long performances are boring? Most of the performances for this event will be snack size, some running just 15 minutes.

You say “The Jim Henson Hour” is on tonight? Hey, Kermit’s a performer, he’ll understand.

According to founder Dorian Hunter, “A Night in Fullerton” was begun in 1965 as a way to “heighten people’s awareness of the arts (and to) let them know this kind of thing goes on all year in our community.”

Since then, annual attendance has grown from 1,500 to an expected 25,000 for tonight’s 25th anniversary celebration.

The evening’s format gives a new meaning to the words “traveling show.” From 7 to 11 p.m., guests can travel from site to site, taking in everything from Dixieland jazz and string quartets to puppetry and giant inflatable art.

Buses depart every 15 minutes from the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Wilshire Avenue in downtown Fullerton and stop at each of the 14 participating museums, schools, libraries, galleries and churches. There is also transportation for the handicapped.

At a central information booth (also at Harbor and Wilshire), detailed programs, with maps and performance schedules, will be available.

Cal State Fullerton is providing one of the evening’s more unusual visual displays: a 25-foot-long plastic aquarium with a flotilla of inflated fish and an equally puffed-up diver floating inside.

A project of Cal State Fullerton instructor Jimmie Jenkins’ art class on three-dimensional forms, the work is one of several inflatable art pieces, including a 60-foot dinosaur and an 80-foot snake, displayed on the lawn next to the university’s visual arts building at 800 N. State College Blvd.

Also on the campus is an exhibit of contemporary ceramics and performances by the Kaleidoscope Players and the university’s percussion, jazz and brass ensembles.

Fullerton College, 321 E. Chapman Ave., is presenting a commissioned work by resident composer-instructor Brent Pierce; choir, band and orchestra concerts; the Lemon Street Stompers, and the school’s jazz band.

At Pacific Christian College, 2500 E. Nutwood Ave., students will perform musical selections. Tim Baley of Anaheim, who is disabled, will present two 45-minute piano concerts.

At the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., the Resident Theatre Company, which presents the center’s annual Theatre on the Green summer season, will perform songs and scenes from “Little Shop of Horrors.” Performances will last about 15 minutes and start on the half hour. “Orange County Collects,” an exhibition of art from private and corporate collections, will be in the main gallery.

In the Fullerton Museum Center, 301 N. Pomona Ave., ventriloquist Valentine Vox and Desplante, a flamenco dance troupe, will be featured, along with “Four Sacred Mountains,” an exhibition of American Indian art. There will also be a special Orange County Centennial exhibit.

Frank Amoss and the Mississippi Mudders will get the shelves jumping at the Fullerton Main Library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave., with their Dixieland jazz. Between sets, guests can catch their breath in the library gallery, where there will be weaving demonstrations and a fiber art exhibit.

At the Hunt Branch Library, 201 S. Basque Ave., the young and young at heart can enjoy puppetry, storytelling and a demonstration of animation cel painting.

Three commercial galleries are participating this year. At the Eileen Kramen Gallery, 619 N. Harbor Blvd., works in glass, wood and watercolor by 11 U.S. artists will be on view, and there will be a watercolor demonstration.

Orange County artists will be featured at the John Thomas Gallery, 209 N. Harbor Blvd., in a multimedia collection and in “Facades,” an exhibit of unusual masks and disguises, at Gallery 57, 204 N. Harbor Blvd.

Barbershop harmonies will ring at two Fullerton churches. At the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 801 N. Raymond Ave., it’s the Sweet Adelines. The 65-voice Orange Empire Chorus will sing at the First Christian Church, 109 E. Wilshire Ave. Historical photos will also be shown at both locations.

Two art conservatories, Patrick’s Musician, 1969 Sunny Crest Drive, and Fullerton Ballet and Dance School, 116 1/2 W. Wilshire Ave., will contribute performances of classical and contemporary dance, Broadway show tunes (including excerpts from “The Phantom of the Opera”), a string quartet and a piano recital.

“A Night in Fullerton” runs from 7 to 11 p.m. at 14 sites in and around downtown Fullerton. Admission: free. For information, or to make arrangements for handicapped transportation, call (714) 738-6575.