Year: 2024

Hannah Cole Dahar discusses her inspirations

By Zachary Lewis

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Hannah Cole Dahar is an artist and art educator whose studio is based in Manchester at Mosaic Gallery.

“Currently… through Dec. 22, Mosaic Art Collective has their small works shows called ‘Small Wonders.’ It’s a great way to come on in and find beautiful one-of-a-kind gifts for people. A lot of local artists and artisans have work of all price points and subjects and styles, so there’s a little bit of everything for everyone,” Dahar said.

Mosaic is also holding a couple of fundraisers. “There are two benefits that we are hosting. One is an ongoing raffle with weekly draws and the money will go directly to benefit the New Hampshire Reproductive Freedom Fund.” The gallery is also looking for unwanted paints and brushes. “The other thing that we’re doing is we are collecting art supplies for children at Waypoint. If you come to Mosaic … during operating hours you can come on in, we will collect the supplies and make sure that it gets to Waypoint.”

Dahar is adept at many artistic media; for the Small Wonders exhibit she has a sterling silver pearl and cast necklace. “I call it Snowdrops,” she said. “Usually, my work is much edgier, but for the holiday season I decided to make something that was a little bit whimsical and fanciful …. You’ve got to have fun too. It’s made out of pearls, sterling silver and chalcedony.”

Dahar said that available time can often determine the direction of her creations.

“When I have more time I love to sit down with a very formal and elaborate painting. If I have a six-hour window, I’m going hyper-realistic scale. The icon paintings, they’re kind of in between. It combines a love of all of the mediums that I love to work with, and history and mythology. Lately I’ve really been getting into people’s stories. Instead of reinventing a historical or mythological people, viewing how they see themselves through their own lens and having them tell their particular story.”

A recent example is about the story of her friend Jen and mockingbirds. Hannah uses various stones and natural materials to construct the piece. “She feels a very strong connection with mockingbirds and she has to be surrounded by mockingbirds. So we made that happen. There’s a tree outside their house where they nest. The neighborhood cat, Sumo, harasses them and unfortunately does their little fledglings in and so that was the story that she chose to tell. I have another one where … I’m incorporating that idea of nests and home and the eggs… .”

She invites everyone to experience what Mosaic and See Saw Art, the gallery next door, has to offer. “My door is always open when Mosaic and See Saw are open. Stop on by and enjoy the space, kind of pick and poke,” Dahar said.

Small Wonders and more
Small Wonders Miniature Art Show
Mosaic Art Collective, 66 Hanover St., Manchester
Now through Sunday, Dec. 22
Wednesdays through Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
coledahar.com
mosaicartcollective.com

See Saw Art
66 Hanover St., Manchester
seesaw.gallery

Featured image: “Hecate The High Priestess.” Oil on Copper Plated Aluminum in an Architectural Frame. Photo by Zachary Lewis.

Improv fun with What the Dickens

What would happen if Ebenezer Scrooge were not miserly but instead always looking at his mobile phone? What if rather than sadness that he needed crutches, Tiny Tim’s family mourned his inability to read an instruction manual? Those are some of the audience suggestions received by the cast of What The Dickens, an improv version of A Christmas Carol at Millspace in Newmarket on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14.

Seacoast-based Stranger Than Fiction, an improv group now in its 20th year, uses the Charles Dickens holiday classic as a template for comedy. The show is always different. One night, the Ghost of Christmas Past might have a Mickey Mouse voice; on another he could be Darth Vader. Some touches are written down by patrons as they enter the theatre; others are shouted out during the play.

The show began in 2022, said STF cast member and Marketing Director Dan Schiffmacher in a recent phone interview, with a run at the New Hampshire Theatre Project in Portsmouth’s West End. Last year, STF partnered with Players’ Ring Theatre and did the show there, along with performances in Newmarket and Sanford, Maine.

“We wanted to do something for the holidays, something a little bit different, and one of our members came up with the idea,” he said. “We started to craft [how] to mix what people know about the story and also have elements of improv…. We didn’t want to pre-plan too much, because we still wanted to have that like spontaneity and fun to it.”

Thus the principles of Dickens’ tale remain — a boss, an employee, his family and some ghosts — but the elements change from night to night. For this year’s opener at Portsmouth’s Players’ Ring Theatre, Scrooge’s bad habit was stealing drinks at the pub he owned, where Cratchit tended bar, and one of the ghosts was Ronald Reagan. Other times, the ghosts spoke like Mickey Mouse or Scooby-Doo.

Audience “asks” are often challenging, Schiffmacher noted. When Scrooge & Marley became a Christmas tree company, the ghost character had to come up with a way to transport Scrooge from realm to realm. The solution was to make him climb into the twining machine to be spun ahead.

Sometimes the mundane is quite funny. “When Darth Vader was the Ghost of Christmas Future, he cleared the scenes by force-choking us all off the stage,” Schiffmacher said. “Our director was on the lights, and he turned everything red. It’s a lot of fun when we’re all on the same page and can do that.”

The process of getting audience input is itself entertaining. When last year’s Scrooge character asked for a 1980s movie actor suggestion, response began flying at him immediately, including Bruce Springsteen, as if his videos counted, along with Sean Connery and John Cusack. He ultimately chose Rodney Dangerfield and groused about getting no respect while talking to Marley’s ghost.

Between an animated crowd and the venerable improv group always looking to top itself, each show presents many new opportunities for hilarity. “We’re always trying to find different ways to switch things up, make them a little more fresh,” Schiffmacher said. “Like we’re all different characters — the person who plays Scrooge in the first show won’t play him in the second show. We all shuffle around … everyone has their own approach.”

Schiffmacher joined Stranger Than Fiction in early 2022, after moving to New Hampshire from Chicago. He has more than a decade of improv experience. He noted that anyone with an itch to try improv can take one of the classes the troupe offers.

“There’s a 101 Intro to Improv that starts in January,” he said. “We’re working on the dates; people can find out more on our website.”

What the Dickens
When: Friday, Dec. 13, and Saturday, Dec. 14, 8 p.m.
Where: Millspace, 55 Main St., Newmarket
Tickets: $12 at portsmouthnhtickets.com

Featured image: Courtesy photo.