Main Street Arts is holding auditions for its winter production of Gilbert and Sullivan's “Pirates of Penzance” on Friday, Sept. 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Rehearsals begin January 2014, and performances run during the first two weeks in March. Stage director is Falko Schilling; Walt Sayre is music director.
Those auditioning for a lead part should come prepared to sing a song specific to the role for which they are auditioning, and to present a short monologue of their choosing.
Performers interested in a chorus part and who are new to MSA productions should bring something to sing.
The 1933 movie King Kong ends with a message that resonates when pondering what brought Entergy to decide to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant next year. King Kong escapes from his captors and, clutching Ann Darrow, climbs to the top of New York's Empire State Building. After...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, and aspiring builders everywhere, are gearing up for BMAC's sixth annual Lego Contest & Exhibit, which will take place Oct. 25-27. For this popular event, Lego enthusiasts of all ages will design and build almost anything they can think of out of Legos...
First, Joyce Marcel [“Visions, values, and tragedy,” Special Focus, July 17], and now MacLean Gander [“Two worlds colliding,” Viewpoint, July 24]. The Commons is giving our local Brattleboro Food Co-op quite a going-over. I'd like to comment on Gander's piece. Journalism is certainly relevant and praiseworthy. I doubt a sidebar by Alex Gyori would be revealing. (There was plenty of room for candor in the Marcel piece.) Getting a gun with ease has been dealt with elsewhere, sadly in vain.
Pig roast benefits Floodbrook School activities LONDONDERRY - The parents and teachers that make up the Floodbrook School Student Activities Committee (FBSAC) invite everyone to its ninth annual pig roast, which will be held at the West River Farmers' Market in Londonderry on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the junction of Routes 100 and 11. Enjoy a hot pulled pork sandwich and an iced tea for a fair price at this one-day only, rain-or-shine activity,
The Brattleboro Concert Choir begins rehearsing for its upcoming season in September with a program celebrating the kinship of creation. Under direction of Susan Dedell, the choir is presenting three very different pieces of choral music: Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, Richard Blackford's Mirror of Perfection, and Paul Winter's Missa Gaia . Many consider Britten's cantata to contain his finest choral writing. Certainly the challenges are varied and rewarding, as Britten sets the vivid text of the supposedly mad...
Vermont Yankee's closing challenges Hydro-Québec, Green Mountain Power, Vermont Gas Systems, and Gaz Métro (majority-owned by Gouvernement du Québec), and international natural-gas supplier TransCanada of Calgary, Alberta (owner of most hydro dams and power plants on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers). The New England electric grid includes a 345,000-volt interstate highway for electricity, via a new $55-million switchyard not owned by Entergy. It connects to Vermont at Vernon and also connects to New York and New Brunswick, but not to...
Author, storyteller, and public broadcasting commentator Willem Lange will speak on “Aging with Humor” on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Westminster Institute on Route 5. Lange's appearance, the final talk at the Institute's “Speaking of Aging” series, is presented by Westminster Cares to help celebrate its 25th anniversary. Lange will speak at 6 p.m. His talk is free, but donations are welcome. Light refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m. Born in 1935, Lange has worked as a ranch hand,
The Snake Mountain Bluegrass Band is trekking down from Addison County to perform at the Halifax Community Hall, 20 Brook Rd. in West Halifax Village. The band last played here to a full house in October 2012, helping raise funds for a new roof for the historic 1844 building. Catch them here again on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 2 to 4 p.m., and help preserve the hall for future generations. Three young women from Addison County - the talented Connor...
College news • Robert Litchfield of Jamaica and Corina Stack of Saxtons River both began their freshman year at St. Michael's College in Colchester this semester. Transitions • Brattleboro Memorial Hospital recently hired Mary Ellen Esser, RN, as Director of Risk Management, Patient Safety and Credentialing. Esser has more than 15 years of experience in the field of medical risk management, performance improvement and infection control. Most recently, she was the Interim Director of Quality for Gerald Champion Regional Medical...
You expect a Bellows Falls football team to be able to run the ball, and the Terriers put on a display of power football in the second half to beat the Milton Yellowjackets, 24-6, at Hadley Field on Saturday. Both teams struggled on offense in the first half as BF took a 6-0 lead. Milton fumbled on its first play from scrimmage, and BF quickly turned it into six points when Austin Stack scored on a two-yard run. The two-point...
The Selectboard voted last week to award a contract for a town photovoltaic system to Integrated Solar of Brattleboro. The company has proposed to deliver 150 kilowatts of below-market-rate electricity for town and school use, and could shave $4,000 or so off Putney's energy bill. Integrated's investors, Green Lantern Capital - which says on its website that it provides comprehensive project financing solutions and development consulting services to project owners, developers, vendors, and service companies in the distributed energy and...
The Open Music Collective launches its fall semester on Saturday, Sept. 21, with expert instructors ready to show you how to tap the very best in your musical potential. Thursdays at 5 p.m., a new class, “Vocal Techniques with Ken and Julie Olsson,” covers the breath, brains and brawn you'll bring to bear in giving rise to powerful, confident, and controlled singing. Ten sessions of two hours each cost $150 for adults, $125 for younger students. “Jazz Vocal Repertoire” returns...
Those familiar with humor website Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency (www.mcsweeneys.net/tendency) might recognize the familiar “list” theme of Rebecca Coffey's new book, Nietzsche's Angel Food Cake … and Other “Recipes” For the Intellectually Famished. “Dorothy's Parker House Rolls: A Jazz Age Recipe” builds up to ask, “What is worse than a Pahkah House Roll?" “Sigmund Freud's 10 Steps to Great Fish” pairs the Oedipus complex with a preparation of trout. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Creature features in re-animated meatloaf. And the titular...
Post Oil Solutions has announced the transition of its Windham County Farm to School program and related food system programming into a new organization, Food Connects, which will let members buy locally grown and produced foods at wholesale prices, for pick-up at one of four local schools. The move follows a successful pilot program in 2012-13 at several area schools, and allows buyers to stock up on yogurt, eggs, bread, bagels, herbs, fruits, vegetables, and other specialty items from area...
Main Street Arts announces its fall schedule of classes and activities, and what a schedule it is. Offering everything from stilt walking to belly dancing to haiku and conversational Spanish, MSA has left you no excuse not to try something new and exciting this fall. Matt Peake leads a collaborative art project for adults and teens; Emily Lisai brings you “Yoga for Everyone;” Dave Tuttle will sharpen your skills in woodcarving; Annesa Hartman is all about needle felting. Classes for...
Citizens Bank recently helped 500 Vermont students, including 30 members of the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, start the school year with new backpacks filled with school supplies through its Gear for Grades program. More than 4,250 pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, glue sticks, and index cards were donated by the public in all 21 branches across Vermont as part of this year's Gear for Grades program. According to a National Retail Federation survey, the average American family spent $688.62...
The assisted living center at West River Valley Senior Housing announces it has earned National Research Corporation's My InnerView Excellence in Action award. Moreover, it said in a press statement, it was one of only two assisted living facilities statewide to receive the award. The honor recognizes long-term care and senior living organizations that achieve the highest levels of satisfaction excellence, as demonstrated by overall resident or employee satisfaction scores that reach within the top 10 percent of the My...
Students can learn a lot from a river. Carol Berner, a Marlboro resident and coordinator of the River of Words program, believes that teachers and their students have much to gain by promoting education through discovering the wonders of their environment. River of Words (ROW) was co-founded in 1995 by writer and activist Pamela Michael and U.S. Poet Laureate Robert L. Hass, who held the post from 1995 to 1997. This national organization, dedicated to international watersheds, connects people throughout...
The Brattleboro Area Skatepark Is Coming (BASIC) advisory committee will vote on whether to downsize plans for a town skateboard park at a special Sept. 19 meeting. Over the past four years, the committee has raised funds and developed designs for a skatepark at the Crowell Lot on Western Avenue. Despite the group's efforts, it fell about $250,000 shy of its goal. Additionally, the two-year permit issued to BASIC by the Development Review Board expired Aug. 15. At a Sept.
On Saturday, Sept. 14, “The Makers of Marlboro” - all those who build, create, craft, make, sing, strum, write, repair, harvest, raise, bake, and imagine - will the guests of honor at the town's 31st annual Community Fair. The fair takes place on the Muster Field on Ames Hill Road. Enjoy a hot breakfast starting at 8 a.m. The Ill Wind Ensemble will lead the traditional parade opening the Fair at 10 a.m. Enjoy lunch while relaxing in front of...
For four decades the American Association of Suicidology has sponsored the National Suicide Prevention Week in September, an annual event that raises awareness about this public health threat. This year the organization says Vermont ranks 14th in the nation for rate of suicide deaths. The Vermont Suicide Prevention Resource and Training Center (VSPRTC), a strong suicide prevention and awareness voice in the state aimed at promoting positive mental health, asks Vermonters to take a moment this week to learn something...
I found Joyce Marcel's story on the Brattleboro Food Co-op killing [Special Focus, July 17] an amazingly thoughtful and thorough piece. Not very often do we read about such real-life, adult situations as what goes on at the workplace. I have never been through what Richard Gagnon endured at his job, and I cannot imagine being driven to the point of murder over anything. But work makes up more of our lives than we probably even realize and I, like...
RE: “Vermont's next gun debate heats up early” [News, Sept. 4]: I would certainly hope that no one advocates stronger gun laws in Vermont without becoming familiar with the draconian and “War on Drugs”–like gun laws that have recently passed in our neighboring states. The fact that crimes committed with guns in Vermont are, on a per-capita basis, low by any standard would hopefully be some evidence that our current legal framework is greatly preferable to the intense criminalization being...
RE: “On joy and justice” [Viewpoint, Sept. 4]: Congratulations to Chad Simmons and his fellow volunteers on their political victory. Victory is that they got what they wanted. A political victory does not change the facts of science and engineering. Thousands will be exposed to high levels of radiation this week, for cancer treatment, for example.
RE: “Vermont's next gun debate heats up early” [News, Sept. 4]: We defeated proposed S-32 (“An Act Relating to Semiautomatic Assault Weapons and Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Devices”) last year, and we will defeat any proposed gun-control measures in the future. See you all in Montpelier.
RE: “On joy and justice” [Viewpoint, Sept. 4]: I can assure Chad Simmons that neither Vermont Yankee employees nor their families will be dancing in the street or high-fiving anyone, today or “eventually.” The reality of impending job losses is anything but fear-mongering in any VY household at the moment. Perhaps it is Simmons' sense of reality that is skewed.
An open letter to U.S. Rep. Peter Welch: Today, we are approaching another vote that will give another president the green light to get us involved militarily in another country in the Middle East. More than anything, I would like to have an opportunity to have a short conversation with you about this issue. Unfortunately, in the last 10 years or so, every time I have contacted you (usually with some sort of criticism, to be fair), I have only...
A coalition of economic-development agencies is beginning to step up efforts to spur the state of New Hampshire to repair the Vilas Bridge, closed since 2009. At the request of Francis “Dutch” Walsh, the development director for Bellows Falls and Rockingham, Mary Helen Hawthorne, the new executive director of the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance, has composed a letter to Governor Peter Shumlin. The letter asks the governor to meet and discuss strategies to reopen the bridge. Walsh, who also...
Before David Miranda was detained for nine hours at London's Heathrow Airport, there was me. The news of Miranda's detainment on Aug. 18 came while I was cooking dinner in my kitchen, when my mobile phone and email blew up simultaneously. A longtime Wall Street source sent me a link to a New York Times story about Miranda's travails, along with the following message: “Reminded me of your experience. Seems these Brits are thugs dressed in borrowed garbs, speaking borrowed...
On behalf of the Bellows Falls local government and the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance, I am seeking a meeting with Governor Peter Shumlin and other interested parties to discuss the future of the Vilas Bridge. At a minimum, for this discussion, in addition to Bellows Falls municipal officials, it would be important to have the legislative transportation committee chairs and the secretary of the Agency of Transportation present. We would be available to meet in Montpelier or at any...
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria certainly deserves the world's condemnation for using chemical weapons against his own people. But before the United States responds militarily, let it be established beyond any reasonable doubt that he did in fact do this. And then why not let NATO and the United Nations Security Council decide how to respond? In the meantime, it is troubling to imagine what steps the United States is considering to take on its own. Based upon previous interventions,
If Brattleboro and its neighbors - Bellows Falls, Keene, N.H., and Northampton, Mass. - were people, what kind of people would they be? Although fun in nature, the question dug into people's sense of Brattleboro's identity and into how the town fits within its “surrounding family.” Members of the state-assembled Vermont Downtown Action Team (V-DAT) posed this question, and others, to community members during an evening information-gathering session at the Latchis Theatre on Monday. The team of architects, planners, and...
Two years after the Brattleboro Retreat opened its doors to patients displaced from the Vermont State Hospital, the 179-year-old psychiatric hospital continues to wrestle with patient rights and staff safety. During an unannounced on-site complaint investigation on July 15 and 16, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) determined that the Retreat, which specializes in mental health and addiction care, violated CMS polices. Again. CMS has identified areas where the Retreat has not met the center's conditions of participation...
The Selectboard want more information from the state and the joint Putney/Dummerston Design Review Board on the reasoning behind certain features of the Park-and-Ride on track for construction at the town line. Selectboard member Joe Cook raised the issue at a Sept. 4 meeting, saying he took issue with the facility's planned 82 parking spots and the fact that it includes lighting and is paved. “Don't get me wrong: I'm all for Park-and-Rides; they make more and more sense down...
When Municipal Manager Willis “Chip” Stearns gave the press a tour of the newly completed Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL) last month, he said that the library aimed to open its doors by Sept. 30. Stearns warned that an opening by the middle of October would be more realistic. The library has received its certificate of occupancy, Stearns said, but he explained that the delay in opening would allow officials time to attend to final details. He said the library's...
The town's representative to the Windham Solid Waste Management District says that, despite the best efforts of its staff and volunteers, the District is struggling to make ends meet and is considering new sources of revenue and changes in personnel. Michelle Cherrier told the Selectboard on Sept. 9 that, given a sharp falloff in sales from plastics, the projected closure of the Brattleboro landfill, and pending state mandates over recycling, the District is under pressure to adjust its business plan.
The Selectboard on Sept. 4 followed suit with their counterparts in Putney in approving a Planning Commission request for a resolution to pursue a $15,000 grant toward a 2014 zoning study of the Interstate 91 Exit 4 area. The study, if funded by the state's Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development, would pay for an outside planing consultant to investigate about a mile around Exit 4, identify issues, generate a public hearing to discuss the issues, and fund a...
Vermont State Police are seeking the public's help in locating a woman missing from Townshend since Sept. 6. Trooper Jeff Hudon of the VSP's Brattleboro barracks told The Commons on Saturday that Helen Holmes was last seen at her Plumb Road home at 8 a.m. the previous day. Police have been attempting a welfare check since the 59-year-old woman failed to show up for a 2 p.m. appointment. “Anyone who can help get the word out, we're trying to check...
Pavel Zuštiak just might be the only major choreographer working in America who got his start performing as the Czechoslovakian equivalent of a Mouseketeer. “I was a television star in my home country when I was 9, in an hour-long show that was aired once a month,” says Zuštiak. “The show was quite popular in the Eastern European bloc and was rather similar to the Mickey Mouse Club here in America.” He says his culture helped him stay grounded despite...