Music
• Beaucoup Blue at Hooker-Dunham: Twilight Music presents an evening of Americana and acoustic blues music with Beaucoup Blue, the Philadelphia-based father and son team of David and Adrian Mowry, at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery on Saturday, Jan. 8, at 7:30 p.m.
Beaucoup Blue's traditional and contemporary style of roots music is based in the blues, but also draws from folk, soul, r&b, jazz, country and bluegrass. All these interests and influences mesh in the duo's innovative and authentic songwriting and sound.
David and Adrian feature a variety of instruments (six- and 12-string guitars, slide guitar, Dobro) and two soulful voices that blend together as only family members can. They were the grand prize winners of the 17th annual Billboard World Songwriting Contest.
Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery is located at 139 Main St. in downtown Brattleboro. Tickets for the show are $14, $12 for students and seniors. For ticket reservations, and information, call 802-254-9276. For more information, visit www.beaucoupblue.com and www.hookerdunham.org.
• VOCO, House Blend come to Putney: The Grammar School invites the community to a concert on Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. with the world music quartet VOCO, featuring Vermont musician Moira Smiley, plus an opening set by the local singing group House Blend. Suggested donations at the door are $10 for adults and $5 for students.
VOCO is a group that sings exquisite harmony and celebrates all of humanity through the beauty of song. They will be teaching a workshop and performing for Grammar School students the next day.
The opening act, House Blend, is a community chorus based in Saxtons River that features a group of local musicians who are familiar to many of us in the area. Like VOCO, this chorus also travels the world of music, and celebrates cultural diversity through song.
Film
• Winter foreign film series at MSA: Main Street Arts will offer a winter foreign film series beginning Sunday, Jan. 9, at 7:15 p.m., with a showing of the French film Children of Paradise.
The films are designed to coincide with the community arts center's foreign language potluck suppers, although non-potluck attendees are welcome. The series continues with the German film, Wings of Desire, on Jan. 16; Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Dreams on Jan. 30; and the Mexican film The Exterminating Angel on Feb. 6.
French, German and Spanish potlucks precede their respective language's films, but the Japanese showing features a one-time Japanese potluck beforehand at 6 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring a Japanese dish to share and practice any knowledge they may have of Japanese.
Admission to any of the films is by donation. Each showing will feature a short pre-film commentary by John Wood, a Saxtons River poet and critic.
Children of Paradise (“Les Enfants du Paradis”), directed by Marcel Carné, was made during the Nazi occupation of France and released in 1945. It is the story of the beautiful courtesan Garance, a figure of the 1820's Parisian theater scene, and the four men who love her: a mime, an actor, a criminal and an aristocrat. It has been described as the French answer to “Gone with the Wind” and was voted “Best French Film Ever” in a 1995 poll of 600 French critics and professionals.
Further information about the potlucks and the film series is available by contacting at Main Street Arts at 802-869-2960, [email protected], or visiting the Web site www.MainStreetArts.org.
• Documentary on justice system: On Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m., in the Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room, the Brattleboro Community Justice Center will show Road to Return, a documentary to educate viewers on a national program which helps ex-prisoners return to society as productive citizens.
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin plans to cut up to $40 million dollars from the DOC annual budget by releasing 800 nonviolent offenders. If these soon-to-be released individuals do not acquire the necessary support to successfully complete their terms of probation, they will likely return to prison, or worse: reoffend.
By educating community members on methods for helping them reintegrate into society successfully, the Community Justice Center hopes to initiate the first steps of recidivism prevention. Staff members from the Brattleboro Community Justice Center will be present to engage viewers in a post-film discussion and provide information for those interested in getting involved with ex-offender reentry support.
Road to Return documents the collaboration of a college professor and ex-con bank robber as they create the nation's leading program for individuals leaving prison. Today, the program reduces likeliness of recidivism from 85 percent down to 5 percent among its participants, and proves that a compassion-driven response to justice is effective in reducing crime in the long term. The independent film has won a number of awards, including Best Documentary at the 1999 Great Plains Film Festival.
Community members are invited to attend the showing at no charge and stay for a discussion afterward. Popcorn will be served. For more information, contact Erin Ruitenberg at [email protected] or 802-251-8140.
• Post oil film series: Beginning on Jan. 12, Post Oil Solutions and the Marlboro Graduate Center MBA in Managing for Sustainability will co-sponsor Inspiring Actions, a six-week series of films and discussions whose purpose is to inspire personal and community actions to increase the well being of people and the environment.
Each week, there will be two related events. A Wednesday lunch hour program will feature a short excerpt from a film and a conversation aimed at thinking together about steps we can take. This will be held at Brooks Memorial Library meeting room from noon to 1 p.m.
The Thursday evening program will include a viewing of the same film, but this time in its entirety, followed by a discussion. This will be held at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, in Room 2 North, from 7-9 p.m.
The schedule of films are as follows: Peak Oil Imposed by Nature, Wednesday, Jan. 12 and Thursday, Jan. 13; Cuba's Accidental Revolution: Sustainable Agriculture, Wednesday, Jan. 19 and Thursday, Jan. 20; The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, Wednesday, Jan. 26 and Thursday, Jan. 27; The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, Wednesday, Feb. 2 and Thursday, Feb. 3; The 11th Hour – Solutions, Wednesday, Feb. 9 and Thursday, Feb. 10; and In Transition 1.0, Wednesday, Feb. 16 and Thursday, Feb. 17.
The series is free, but donations will be accepted to help cover expenses. For information, call Laurel Green, 802-275-4646 or visit www.postoilsolutions.org.
Performing arts
• Shakespeare Unrehearsed at NEYT: New England Youth Theatre's Alumni Association pays homage to its parent organization and explores new theatrical ground with the upcoming production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, an “unrehearsed” version of one of the Bard's most fanciful and enchanting comedies (and also NEYT's first-ever production). This perennial favorite follows the antics of four young Athenian lovers as they stumble into the forest realm of two feuding fair-folk deities.
In an attempt to authentically emulate the Elizabethan-era process of theatrical production, NEYT's alumni will be performing the show with no more than 24 hours' worth of rehearsal. In Shakespeare's day, rigorous performance schedules and reliance on sunlight allowed for precious little rehearsal time: actors would perform one show per day, six days a week.
Like the Lord Chamberlain's Men before them, the young actors from throughout NEYT's history will find themselves thrust headfirst into the world of Shakespeare's rich wordplay, imagery, and wit. Watch out – as they stay on their toes, you will surely stay on the edge of your seat! NEYT alumnus Ben Stockman directs.
Shows will be at 7 p.m. on Jan. 8 and 9. All proceeds will be donated to NEYT's “Angels in the Wings” scholarship fund. Tickets will be sold only at the door, and will be by donation. The suggested donation is $10 to help support NEYT's current students.
Lectures
• Native culture and contemporary art: Embodying Native Culture: The Dance of Tradition and the Contemporary, a discussion with Native Alaskan choreographer Emily Johnson,Vermont Abenaki master basket maker Judy Dow and cultural anthropologist and Marlboro College professor Carol Hendrickson, will be held Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m., at the Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro. The snow date is Jan. 13.
The discussion will explore the issues facing Native American artists who draw on traditional themes to make contemporary work. The artists will share some of their work and discuss the challenges, rewards and politics around the production of contemporary Native American art today.
Johnson and Dow are participating in an artist-to-artist exchange hosted by Vermont Performance Lab. As part of this exchange, Johnson will offer a hands-on fish skin sewing workshop and community members are welcome to participate in a fish skin sewing circle hosted by VPL. For details visit http://vermontperformancelab.com or call VPL at 802-579-3766.
• The Town Photographer in Vermont: On Saturday, Jan. 15, at 3 p.m. at the Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room, photographer and local historian Forrest Holzapfel discusses the role of the village photographer in 19th-century Vermont and demonstrates how his own work continues that tradition by creating a body of contemporary photographs depicting the people and landscapes of his hometown of Marlboro.
There will also be a short presentation by Jess Weitz of Brooks Memorial Library of the digitization of the library's Porter Thayer Photograph Collection.Thayer was a photographer, born in Williamsville, who took photographs around Windham County from 1903 to 1930. Thayer used a 5x7 and a 6.5 x 8.5 view camera and glass plate negatives to create his images. The detail available in his large format images creates an extraordinary glimpse into early 20th century life in Southeastern Vermont.
Holzapfel returned to his hometown after graduating from Bard College in 1997. The people and landscapes of Marlboro have become the focus of his fieldwork in photography and oral history. He has had numerous exhibitions and was the recipient of a 2003 Individual Achievement Award from the Vermont Historical Society for his work. He is vice president of the Marlboro Historical Society.
Holzapfel will exhibit his photographs of Marlboro, Vermont during the month of January, and will offer suggestions to those who would like to undertake similar documentation of their own towns.
The event is free and open to the public, and sponsored by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council.