Dance
• Bollywood comes to Main Street Arts: East meets West when the dance techniques featured in India's Bollywood films come to Main Street Arts in a workshop Friday, Nov. 12.
Gretchen Abendschein will teach the basic steps of this stylistic fusion of westernized contemporary funk with semi-classical folk dances of India that are key elements in many of the films produced in Mumbai, home to Bollywood and one of the largest centers of film production in the world.
No experience is necessary for the workshop, which will run from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The fee is $9 for members and $12 for non-members. Participants can register by contacting MSA at 802-869-2960 or e-mailing [email protected]. Further information and a complete schedule of MSA's fall classes is available at www.MainStreetArts.org.
Abendschein has been teaching jazz dance classes to children and adults at MSA since 1991. She studied dance and performance at the University of Maryland, danced in several productions at the Weston Playhouse, and attended the internationally known Jacob's Pillow dance festival, dancing under the tutorship of Judith Jamison of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
Visual arts
• Open house at the Jelly Bean Tree: The Jelly Bean Tree, Vermont's oldest crafts cooperative, will host a holiday open house on Thursday, Nov. 11, from 4-6 p.m.
Housed in the 1830 Main Street Arts building in Saxtons River, the shop displays the work of the 40 juried artisans who have created pottery, baskets, woven and silk scarves, papier mache gifts, jewelry, paintings, baby items, photographs, knitted clothing and bags, note cards, potpourri, items made of marbleized paper and fabric, beeswax candles, wood carvings and other hand-crafted goods.
The Jelly Bean Tree operates as a nonprofit cooperative for the benefit of its members, and it is dedicated to helping local craftspersons market their wares. In continuous operation since 1977, it has helped hundreds of artists get established in the crafts market. For more information, call 802-869-2729.
• Saxtons River Art Guild presents fall watercolor workshop: Paint the brilliant colors of fall in this one-day workshop with watercolorist Robert O'Brien on Saturday, Nov. 13, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the United Church in Bellows Falls.
The class will begin with a demonstration by Robert followed by class painting, instruction and critique. All levels are welcome. An award winning artist, O'Brien has been painting in watercolor for 30 years. His work can be seen at www.robertjobrien.com. For workshop registration, call Kathy at 802-463-9456 or Donna at 603-835-2387.
Performing arts
• Fahrenheit 451 performed in Townshend: The Leland and Gray Players open their 15th season with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 on Nov. 11-13 in the Dutton Gymnasium on the LGUHS campus on Route 30.
In 1951, Ray Bradbury wrote a short story “The Fireman,” that soon became the much touted Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel depicting a future society in America where reading is a crime and books are regularly burned on prescribed schedules. In 1979, Bradbury worked his story into a play.
Retaining all the horror of the novel, it takes place in “the future” in “a city” which is run by “The Citizens' Committee.” There are no schools, no teachers. Critical thinking is not allowed. Everything one feels the need or want to know is provided; no thought is required on the part of the individual. To rid the city of its dangerous reading material that might make people think, a squad of “firemen” effectively purge the landscape of books - said to burn at 451 degrees Fahrenheit - with kerosene and special equipment which ensures fast and complete incineration.
Fireman Guy Montag, the protagonist, begins to have doubts about the system when he sees an elderly woman with a large collection of fine books choose to die with her “children” as she calls her collections. What is their power?
As Montag questions his barren and sterile life, he meets Clarisse, a young girl whose family shuns the ubiquitous TV screen in favor of reading and conversing. Through Clarisse, Montag learns to ask not only “how” things happen but, more importantly, “why?” Bradbury suggests that a future such as his story paints may evolve because of the pace of contemporary life: fast cars, loud music, all enveloping walls of TV, no time to think and read.
Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students available at the door. Performances are Thursday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 13, at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Information: [email protected] or 802-365-7355, ext. 204. Student group discounts and study materials are available on request.
• VTC presents The Heiress: The Vermont Theatre Company presents, The Heiress, by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, a two-act play suggested by Henry James's Washington Square, on Nov. 12, 13 and 14, at the Evening Star Grange in Dummerston. Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 for evening shows, $10 for students and seniors, and $10 for all matinee tickets. Call 802-258-1344 for more information.
The play, set in New York in 1850, seems at first glance a straightforward tale of a jilted woman's revenge on her fortune hunting suitor. But the complex relationships between the characters raise the question of how the shy young woman at the beginning of the play became the embittered spinster at the end. Ideally, the audience should be looking for a villain and unable to determine who it is.
• Marlboro College presents The Clean House: Marlboro College presents Sarah Ruhl's comedy, “The Clean House,” directed by Anna Bean, on Nov. 12-13 at 8 p.m. in the Whittemore Theater.
Visiting professor Anna Bean has worked with a cast and crew of Marlboro students to stage this version of Ruhl's 2004 play about a Brazilian maid who would rather practice jokes in her native Portuguese than clean the home of her employer, a suburban Connecticut physician who is in love with one of his patients. “The Clean House” won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
A Ph.D. graduate of New York University's Department of Performance Studies, Bean is also teaching a directing class, Femininity on Stage, during her semester at Marlboro College. She lives in Bennington with her two children Elsa and Tobias, her partner Nick, and one very spoiled cat.
• Shakespeare at BFUHS: The Bellows Falls Union High School Fall Drama club will present William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream on Nov. 12 and 13 at 7 p.m.
The main plot of Midsummer is a complex contraption that involves two sets of couples, Hermia and Lysander, played by sophomore Ashley Palmisano, freshmen Hayden Noyes and Helena and Demetrius played by junior Rachel Greenberg and freshmen Sam Empy, whose romantic cross-purposes are complicated further by their entrance into the play's fairyland woods where the King and Queen of the Fairies, Oberon and Titania, played by junior James Morton and senior Courtney Perry, preside and the impish folk character of Puck or Robin Goodfellow, played by Allegra Maskell, plies his trade.
• The Met at the Latchis: The Met: Live in HD series continues its fifth season with Donizetti's comedy Don Pasquale, starring Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecien and John Del Carlo, transmitted live on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, with an encore rebroadcast on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 11 a.m.
Tickets are $24 on Saturday and $22 on Sunday. Contact Brattleborotix.com, Brattleboro Arts Initiative, 802-254-1109; Brattleboro Music Center, 802-257-4523.
Met Music Director James Levine, conducting his first-ever performances of the opera, leads the cast in Otto Schenk's acclaimed 2006 production. Don Pasquale is a witty commentary on marriage in which an old bachelor, Pasquale (John Del Carlo), plans to marry and produce an heir to disinherit his rebellious nephew, Ernesto (Matthew Polenzani). Pasquale's doctor, Malatesta (Mariusz Kwiecien), has arranged a sham marriage in a plot to restore Ernesto's inheritance, aided by the wily Norina (sung by Anna Netrebko, in one of her signature roles), who hopes to win Ernesto for herself.
Music
• Jatoba at Flat Street Brew Pub: Brattleboro's Groovegrass trio, Jatoba, will be performing at Flat Street Brew Pub on Friday, Nov. 12, starting at 9 p.m. Tickets for the over-21 show are $5.
Jatoba is Jason Scaggs, John Jamison and Jeff Richardson and the trio is quickly becoming a Northeast touring favorite with their eclectic mix of acoustic instrumentation and their solid live show performances. In the past few months, Jatoba has gone from a key local act to regional touring force and has recently shared the stage with nationally touring acts such as Keller Williams, David Grisman Quintet, Lettuce, KRS-1, Soulive and Rusted Root, just to name a few.
• Stone Church Arts presents Áine Minogue: On Saturday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m., Áine Minogue will perform exquisite Celtic harp and gorgeous voice at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St., Bellows Falls.
As traditional Irish music and dance continue to enjoy phenomenal success both here and in Ireland, Minogue is an artist who has long explored its themes and who captures its very essence. Her voice reflects the lyricism and richness to be found in Irish music, mythology and poetry with a voice undeniably her own and a diverse group of instruments that add to the traditional flavor of her work.
Born in Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Minogue large musical family encouraged her to pursue a number of different instruments during her youth (which explains her obvious skill at arranging). They played together as a family and attended fleadhs (traditional music festivals). But it was at the age of 12 while at boarding school in County Galway that Minogue discovered her true love - the harp - which she decided to pursue in lieu of the others.
Her harp has entertained presidents and prime ministers. She is a regular performer at folk festivals and concerts throughout the world. Her recordings include The Mysts of Time, Between the Worlds, Circle of the Sun, Celtic Meditation Music, Celtic Lamentations, Celtic Pilgrimage (2008) and most recently a collaboration with filmmaker Michael Yip entitled Winter, A Meditation (DVD, 2009)
Admission is $17 for adults ($13 for seniors and children under 12) in advance years of age and $20 ($15) at the door. Tickets are available at Village Square Booksellers (Bellows Falls), Toadstool Bookshop (Keene, NH), Brattleboro Books, Misty Valley Books (Chester), and at www.brattleborotix.com or available at the door.
• Barrand and Murphy perform Atwood Family Songs at Marlboro: Tony Barrand and Keith Murphy will perform music from their new CD, On the Banks of the Coldbrook: Atwood Family Songs in Marlboro College's Ragle Hall on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 3 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
Barrand first learned of the collection of songs written by Dover resident James K. Atwood when he was a professor at Marlboro. The legendary folk musician and archivist Margaret MacArthur shared with him a volume of the songs originally published in 1919 and field recordings she made of Atwood's son, Fred, singing them. Barrand revisited the songs for Dover's bicentennial celebration this past October, and went into the studio with Murphy to record the songs.
An accomplished vocalist, Tony Barrand has recorded several albums of traditional folk music with John Roberts, and both are also part of the four person group, Nowell Sing We Clear, which performs an annual yuletide concert series. Newfoundland-born Keith Murphy is proficient multi-instrumentalist and is a sought-after sideman on guitar, mandolin and foot percussion.
• Sierra Hull & Highway 111 in Putney: Twilight Music presents an evening of bluegrass and newgrass with Sierra Hull & Highway 111 and The Stockwell Brothers at The United Church of Putney on Thursday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Nineteen-year-old mandolin prodigy Sierra Hull is a leading light in the new generation of bluegrass musicians. Her national debut CD Secrets on Rounder Records is co-produced by Allison Krauss and features bluegrass superstars Jerry Douglas, Ron Block (who joins Highway 111 on banjo and vocals for this concert), Dan Tyminski, Stuart Duncan and Tony Rice. Sierra and bandmates Cory Walker (banjo/dobro/vocals), Clay Hess (guitar/vocals), Christian Ward (fiddle/vocals) and Jacob Eller (bass) are 2010 International Bluegrass Music Association “Emerging Artist of the Year” nominees. Sierra is also nominated for “Mandolin Player of the Year.”
Featuring 2005 Merlefest bluegrass banjo contest winner Bruce Stockwell, newgrass and contemporary folk trio The Stockwell Brothers have performed alongside artists from Bill Monroe to Mary-Chapin Carpenter to Asleep At The Wheel, recorded with Mike Auldridge and Phil Rosenthal of the bluegrass supergroup The Seldom Scene and toured throughout the United States and in Canada and Europe.
The United Church is located at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney. Tickets for the show are $20 general admission/$18 students and seniors. For ticket reservations and information, call 802-254-9276. For more information, visit www.sierrahull.com, www.stockwellbrothers.com and www.twilightmusic.org.
Books
• D.B. Johnson lectures at BMAC: Award-winning children's-book author and illustrator D.B. Johnson, whose work is currently on display at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, will give a presentation at the museum on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m. Johnson will read from his newest book, Palazzo Inverso, discuss the evolution of the book's M.C. Escher-inspired ideas, and do a sample drawing. He will also sign copies of Palazzo Inverso, which is available for purchase at the museum's gift shop.
With the publication of his first illustrated children's book, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, Johnson made a distinct mark in the world of children's literature. In addition to the praise he has earned for his original picture-book stories, Johnson has also contributed his art to stories by authors such as Linda Michelin (Zuzu's Wishing Cake) and Daniel Pinkwater (Bear's Picture, 2008).
While book illustration is a relatively recent undertaking for Johnson, publication is not: he is a nationally recognized freelance illustrator whose work has appeared in the pages of such well-known publications as the New York Times Book Review, Newsday, and The Washington Post.
The Museum's exhibits and gift shop are open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Tuesday and Wednesday. Regular admission is $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, and $3 for students. Members and children 5 and under are admitted free of charge. For more information call 802-257-0124 or visit www.brattleboromuseum.org.
• Business of baseball at Village Square Books: Douglas J. Gladstone, the author of A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees A Curve, will read excerpts from his book at Village Square Booksellers on Sunday, Nov. 14, beginning at 1 p.m. Gladstone will also take questions from the audience and sign copies of the book for all those individuals who purchase it that afternoon.
With a foreword written by the Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist, Dave Marash, A Bitter Cup of Coffee tells the true story of a group of former big-league ballplayers denied pensions as a result of the failure of both the league and the union to retroactively amend the vesting requirement change that granted instant pension eligibility to ballplayers in 1980. Prior to that year, ballplayers had to have four years service credit to earn an annuity and medical benefits. Since 1980, however, all you have needed is one day of service credit to qualify for health insurance and 43 days of service credit for a pension.
Village Square Booksellers is located at 32 The Square in Bellows Falls. For book and event reservations, contact the bookstore at 802-463-9404 or visit www.villagesquarebooks.com.