El Paso's Jewel Box series opens Sunday

Dave Acosta , El Paso Times

Art, creativity, friendship.

At the crossroads of the three ideas is where longtime friends and painters Susan Amstater and Connie Dillman and poets Dorothy Ann Leach and Jacqueline Stroud Spier connect.

That connection will take center stage during their Jewel Box Series opener “As Is … 2 Painters and 2 Poets.”

The El Paso Community Foundation’s Jewel Box Series kicks off with the performance that includes humor, poetry readings, paintings and conversation at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Philanthropy Theatre, inside the Plaza Theatre in Downtown.

“As Is …” coincides with the release of the group’s fourth book, “As Is,” which was published by the El Paso Community Foundation. The book will be on sale during the performance. Proceeds from book sales will go to the Women’s Voice Fund, which they established along with the El Paso Community Foundation to support women and children’s creative projects.

“We know the value of art and literature in the community,” Spier said in a release.

The Jewel Box Series, which is produced a partnership of the El Paso Community Foundation and El Paso Live, which runs the Plaza Theatre, is a showcase for area performing arts groups.

The remaining schedule for the Jewel Box Series includes:

2:30 p.m. Nov. 13: “Boheme Noir,” an original production by Tumbleweed Collective Contemporary Dance, featuring live music by Daniel Rivera and Carlos Benitez.

2:30 p.m. Dec. 11: “Barrio Christmas,” a bilingual adaptation by writer-director Drime Lockhart, loosely based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” presented by Los Actores.

2:30 p.m. Jan. 15: “Indigo Twilight,” a classical-jazz performance, presented by the El Paso Society for Musicians of the Future, which will combine instrumental music, voice and poetry.

7 p.m. Feb. 11 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 12: “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” a re-imagining of the Disney musical, featuring songs such as “Be Our Guest,” presented by the Scaffolding Theatre Company.

2:30 p.m. March 12: “Killing Buddha,” an award-winning one-man performance by Algernon D’Amassa, accompanied by Native American musician Randy Granger, presented by Deming’s Theatre Dojo.

7 p.m. April 8 and 2:30 p.m. April 9: “Bernabe,” a play by Luis Valdez, presented by Eden Enterprises, and directed by local theater veteran Hector Serrano.

2:30 p.m. May 21: “Banging the Bell: A Texas Comedy in Two Acts,” an original comedy by El Paso playwright Ted Karber Jr., presented by EPStageBusiness.

Dave Acosta may be reached at 546-6138; dacosta@elpasotimes.com; @AcostaDavidA on Twitter.