Kung Fu Panda 4 (PG )

Jack Black returns as the voice of Po, the panda who is here to kick butt and eat dumplings, in Kung Fu Panda 4, a competent and enjoyable entry in this series.

Dragon Warrior Po was given the staff of wisdom in the third movie and his instructor Shifu (voice of Dustin Hoffman) thinks this means it’s time for Po to start thinking about a promotion to spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace, meaning he’d have to pick a new Dragon Warrior. But Po loves being the Dragon Warrior; it sounds cool and it helps his dads — panda dad Li (voice of Brian Cranston) and goose dad Ping (voice of James Han), who have become friends are are now in business together — drum up a crowd for the opening of their new noodle stand. But Shifu urges him to do more with his powers.

With the Furious Five — animals voiced by actors who are not in this movie — out fighting other battles, Po is left to investigate alone when he hears that Tai Lung (voice of Ian McShane), villain from the first movie, has somehow returned from the spirit world. Maybe it’s not actually Tai Lung, suggests Zhen (voice of Awkwafina), a fox and a thief doing time at the Valley of Peace correctional facility after Po catches her trying to steal stuff from the kung fu headquarters Jade Palace. She tells Po a villain known as The Chameleon (voice of Viola Davis) has the ability to appear as anyone and is looking to spread her influence from her current power-center of Juniper City. Zhen convinces Po to let her come on his one-last-Dragon-Warrior quest to find The Chameleon, who is a powerful sorceress and seems to be messing with the spirit world in an attempt to gain kung fu skills. Country panda Po finds the big city bewildering and he’s a little too trusting for the gang of petty thieves Zhen considers her family. Meanwhile, his nervous dads take off after him, creating fun buddy road trip antics.

My kids were on board with this movie as soon as they saw the cutesy baby bunnies who hunger for violence in the trailer. The movie basically sticks to this tone of animal cuteness and solidly PG action (maybe occasionally scary for the littlest movie goers) and butt-kicking (skadoosh) mixed with overall silliness. Occasional moments of earnestness are never allowed to get too sweetsy and villainous evil is often cut with humor or a sense that someone with a legitimate beef has made, as they say at school, a wrong choice. B

Rated PG for martial arts action/mild violence, scary images and some mild rude humor, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Ma Stine with a screenplay by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger and Darren Lemke (with additional screenplay material by David Lindsay-Abaire and Lillian Yu), Kung Fu Panda 4 is an hour and 34 minutes long and is distributed by Universal Studios. Want to make sure the Kung Fu Panda universe is your kid’s thing before you shell out for theater tickets? According to JustWatch.com, find original Kung Fu Panda streaming on Peacock and Freevee, Kung Fu Panda 2 streaming on Peacock Premium, Kung Fu Panda 3 streaming on Netflix and all of those films available for rent or purchase. There is also an assortment of series and specials available on different streaming services (and a few specials not apparently available anywhere) but the most recent, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, has three seasons available on Netflix, JustWatch.com said.

Featured photo: Kung Fu Panda 4.

Watch these movies!

A preview of the Oscars

If I ran the Oscar ceremony — which will this year air on Sunday, March 10, at 7 p.m. on ABC — my goals for the annual event would be: (1) to convince people to watch movies, (2) to convince people to watch these, the nominated movies, and (3) to give the presenters and winners enough space to say funny or touching but mostly funny things.

To the last point, see Steven Yeun winning a Golden Globe this year (where he realizes his life mirrors the plot of Frozen) or Adam Sandler winning anything — this year’s People’s Icon, 2020’s Indie Spirit award. That’s what you want at an award ceremony. Maybe just give Adam Sandler some kind of award every year — at least you’d have all of New Hampshire tuning in.

To the movie-watching goals: The Oscars stand as the answer to everyone who complains nothing but superhero movies gets released anymore. Here are a bunch of movies, only two of which are Marvel-related — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (nominated for visual effects; available for rent or purchase and on Disney+) and Spider-Man: Across the Universe(nominated for Animated Feature Film; available for rent or purchase and on Netflix) — that were in theaters (or will be, in a few cases) and are now largely available for your viewing pleasure in your house.

My case for movie watching and for the Oscars itself, would go something like this:

Oscar nominates popular movies! Including those aforementioned Marvel-character films, four of the films in the 2023 box office top 10 are nominated for Oscars, the other two being the two sides of the summer movie-going event known as Barbenheimer — Barbie (nominated in seven categories; rent or purchase and on Max) and Oppenheimer (nominated in 13 categories; rent or purchase and on Peacock). Also nominated are top-20-box-office earners Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One(nominated for Sound; rent or purchase and on Paramount+) and Elemental (nominated for Animated Feature Film; rent or purchase and on Disney+). See? You’ve heard of those movies. You may not have liked Elemental — and I’d agree with you in that — but you’ve heard of it.

Oscar nominates fun movies! Barbie, my favorite movie of 2023 and my pick for Best Picture, is super fun — from its detailed attention to the toy-doll-ness of Barbie and her world to absolutely everything to do with Ryan Gosling’s Ken, including the song “I’m Just Ken,” which is nominated for Original Song and will likely be performed during the broadcast. Other fun films include Original Song nominee Flamin’ Hot (on Hulu & Disney+), the Eva Longoria-directed true-or-whatever story behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos; its self-conscious tall-tale-ishness is goofy fun. The Creator (nominated for Sound and Visual Effects; rent or purchase and on Hulu) is a very wide-tent futuristic tale about AI robots and humanity’s difficult relationship with them. My pick for Animated Feature Film would be Nimona(nominated in that category and available on Netflix), a very fun underdog quest movie that my older elementary-and-up kids have watched multiple times (as the shape-shifting girl warrior Nimona would say, “metal”). I haven’t seen it yet but Godzilla Minus One (nominated in Visual Effects) is the first Godzilla movie to ever receive an Academy Award nomination and I am generally pro-Godzilla-movies.

Oscar nominates movies that make you appreciate your streaming services! Rustin, featuring the nominated lead actor performance by Colman Domingo; Nyad, nominated for Annette Bening’s performance in lead actress and for Jodie Foster’s very good performance in supporting actress; Society of Snow(an International Film and Makeup and Hairstyling nominee), and May December, nominated for original screenplay, are all Netflix movies (where you can still find them), as is Best Picture nominee Maestro(also a nominee in six other categories). Napoleon(nominated in Costume Design, Visual Effects and Production Design), the bloated biopic that isn’t a terrible watch, and Killers of the Flower Moon, a solid Martin Scorsese movie (nominated in Best Picture and nine other categories, including the outstanding Lily Gladstone for best actress), are both Apple Films, and while they had an initial theatrical run they are now available to Apple TV+ subscribers to watch (as well as for purchase).

Oscar’s Best Picture list includes some comedies! American Fiction(five total nominations; available for purchase) and The Holdovers (five nominations; rent or purchase and on Peacock) are both solid, laugh-out-loud for-grown-ups comedies. Past Lives(two nominations; rent or purchase and on Showtime) also has its funny moments, even though it is a quieter almost-love story. I heartily recommend all three.

Oscar, of course, nominates serious films for when you want to get serious and watch films. The Zone of Interest(nominated in five categories; available for purchase) is a harrowing movie about a really horrifying thing (the Holocaust and the willing participation of one family therein) and yet it was also excellently well done and totally worth seeing. The same could be said of documentaries Four Daughters (rent or purchase and via Kinko Film Collection), about one Tunisian family’s difficult history, and 20 Days in Mariupol(rent or purchase and via PBS.org), about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the two strongest of the three documentary nominees I’ve seen. They are difficult to watch yet important and well done films. The Eternal Memory(for rent or purchase and on Paramount+) is also heartbreaking — the tale of a couple trying to hold on to each other even as one is losing his connection to himself from Alzheimer’s. Of the other documentaries Bobi Wine: The People’s Presidentis available on Disney+ and To Kill A Tigerdoes not yet appear to be available.

Back to the best picture nominees: Anatomy of a Fall (nominated in four other categories; available for rent or purchase) is a serious drama that examines the unknowability of a relationship via a murder trial. The previously mentioned Killers of the Flower Moon is at its strongest when it is telling the story of the Osage and attempts to steal their oil money. Poor Things (11 total nominations; available for purchase) is maybe my second least favorite Best Picture nominee (after Maestro) but perhaps this is a movie I need to give a second look to. And even if I don’t ultimately love — or even like — it, arguing about your serious films is a fun part of the movie fan experience.

Oscar reminds you that interesting movies can come in all sizes. The 15 movies nominated in the three shorts categories — animated, documentary and live action — are a good reminder that film is a storytelling medium that creators can use in all sorts of ways. See shorts.tv/theoscarshorts for updates about watching the packages of films at home. Individually, films you can watch now include all the documentary nominees — The ABC’s of Book Banning (Paramount+), The Barber of Little Rock (via The New Yorker), Island in Between (via The New York Times), Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó (Disney+) and The Last Repair Shop(Disney+), my favorite of the ones I’ve seen from this very strong bunch, which is about kids, their musical instruments and the people who fix them. In the animated short category, I could find Letter to a Pig(for rent via Vimeo), Ninety-Five Senses(find it via docplus.com) and Pachyderme(for rent via Vimeo). In the live action category, I found The After (Netflix), Invincible(for rent via Vimeo), Knight of Fortune (for rent via Vimeo), Red, White and Blue(for rent via Vimeo) and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar(Netflix).

Oscar can remind you of all the other movies you can see. Go to abc.com/shows/oscars and print out your ballot. Sure, you can use it on March 10 to predict the winners and place your friendly snack-based bets with your fellow Oscar watchers. But you can also use it as a “what to watch” guide the next time you’re fruitlessly scrolling through your streaming services. And then head to filmindependent.org/spirit-awards for their list of 2024 nominees — you’ll find some overlap (American Fiction and Past Lives are also in their Best Feature category) but you’ll also find new movies to check out. Ditto the Screen Actors Guild Awards (sagawards.org), which has more overlap but also TV nominees; the Bafta Awards (bafta.org), Oscar’s British equivalent, and the Golden Globes (goldenglobes.com/nominations/2024) with its drama, comedy and “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement” categories. Watch these movies, watch other movies, just keep watching movies.

Dune: Part Two (PG-13)

The Fremen help Paul Atreides, gifted with both visions of the future and preternaturally good hair, fight the weirdos of House Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two, a movie about sand and vibes.

Previously on Dune: Paul (Timothée Chalamet) and his mom Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), who is pregnant, had to run off and hide in the deserts of Arrakis, the planet from which comes Spice — a space fuel that can also make your eyes blue. House Harkonnen, which had controlled Arrakis but was stripped of the Spice trade by the Emperor, attacked the Atreides base on Arrakis and killed Paul’s very hot father Leto (Oscar Issac), previously head of House Atreides and Duke of Arrakis. The Harkonnen are now back in charge of Arrakis but are fighting an insurgent war with the Fremen, the indigenous people of Arrakis who would like all of these Spice-hungry imperial families to just go home.

Paul and Lady Jessica are hanging out with the Fremen in part because that’s the only way they can survive the desert, in part because some of the Fremen think Paul might be their messiah and in part because Paul has been dreaming about Chani (Zendaya), a Fremen girl who he’d like to ask “hey, how you doin’?” Stilgar (Javier Bardem), leader of that particular tribe or whatever of Fremen, is pretty sure Paul is the messiah and says increasingly crazy things about following him. Chani is not impressed with all this religious fervor her maybe-boyfriend is inspiring — and how much worse it could be in the fundamentalist south of the planet — but she doesn’t seem to let that get in the way of sharing a tent with Paul.
Meanwhile, Lady Jessica, a member of the order of magic-y religious-y ladies called the Bene Gesserit, spends a lot of time talking to her unborn daughter, who talks back and can also talk with Paul sometimes via dreams (I think?). Jessica has been made a Reverend Mother of Arrakis, which is helping her push this whole “Paul is the Messiah” thing which she does a bit out of genuine belief maybe but mostly out of a sense that it will help him survive and gain the power that comes with a Fremen army.

Also meanwhile, the Harkonnens are finding themselves losing Spice production equipment to the Fremen rebels. When Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (Dave Bautista) can’t get the Fremen in line, his way-crazier, even creepier younger brother Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler) shows up to bomb stuff and be super evil.

Further meanwhile, the Emperor (Christopher Walken, whose character has a more elaborate name but who I always just thought of as “Emperor Christopher Walker”) is watching all this drama from afar, afraid that the other families will find out he was behind the fall of House Atreides. His daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) helpfully narrates some of this information; she mostly hangs around and looks concerned until the end when it becomes clear that she will have more to do next time if there is a next time.

Which I suspect there will be, as Dune: Part Two, for all that I will forget most of that plot by the time Part Three shows up, made $82 million in its opening weekend, according to IMDb. And I predict it will likely match Dune: Part One’sbig Oscar nomination haul next year — Part One had 10 nods, with six wins: Production Design, Sound, Visual Effects, Original Score, Cinematography and Film Editing. I fully expect it to be very competitive in those categories again, as well as Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling (two categories it was nominated in in 2022 but didn’t win). Will it get Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations like it did last time too? Maybe, why not — it straddles the line between beautiful art and movie that gets its own commemorative popcorn box. Part Two looks beautiful, just as Part One did, but maybe feels like even more of a feat because this world isn’t brand new and we get more of the shades-of-brown Arrakis and the black-and-white Harkonnen home world. It’s lovely and creepy, according to what it needs to be, and I really did find myself dazzled by little details like the Bene Gesserit robes given to Lady Jessica or the fancy if kinda stupid headpieces worn by Princess Irulan. I mean, a lot of this doesn’t hold up to deep thought — it’s 10,000 years in the future and we’re still doing billowy capes? — but don’t ask a lot of questions and it looks great.

I feel like Part Two is also an improvement on Part One’s glacial pace. Sure, a merciless editor could have tightened this puppy up a good hour and we wouldn’t have lost anything, but I didn’t mind spending time in this world. The push and pull between Paul’s desires for Freman support but uneasiness with Fremen worship is moderately interesting and I am not too bothered by the generally chilly relationship between Paul and Chani because they’re both fully Movie Stars. Which I guess is how I feel about all of the characters. Everybody looks great — does not in any way resemble a human person and not just a game board piece — but they look great and hold your attention while on screen.

It’s all fine, is what I’m saying, Dune: Part Two is fine — like, better than average for a popcorn movie if not dazzling me with brilliant story or dialogue. But is that really why most of us are here? The big worms are cool, the “waaah”s on the soundtrack are unsettling and the sand looks so much more photogenic than sand is in real life. B

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some suggestive material and brief strong language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Denis Villeneuve with a screenplay by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts, based on the novel by Frank Herbert, Dune: Part Two is two hours and 46 minutes long and released in theaters this time by Legendary Features Productions and Warner Bros.

Featured photo: Dune: Part Two.

Drive-Away Dolls (R)

A pair of friends, one recently dumped by her girlfriend and one getting burned out at work, decide to take a road trip and become unwitting participants in a caper involving a group of tough guys and a couple of suitcases in the 1999-set Drive-Away Dolls.

Marian (the always fun Geraldine Viswanathan) is prickly at work and seems sort of exhausted by the idea of a romantic life, hers having petered out after a breakup with a serious girlfriend (who 1990s-ily worked for Ralph Nader) years earlier.

We learn Jamie’s (Margaret Qualley) whole deal while she’s in bed with one girl and on the phone with her live-in girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein). When Sukie kicks Jamie out of their apartment, Jamie decides that she will accompany Marian on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee. Marian’s plan is to visit an aunt and do some birdwatching. Jamie’s plan is that they hit as many lesbian bars on the drive down as they can. Both of them decide to take the trip in a “drive-away” — a car-share-type situation where they drive down a car that someone else has asked to have transported.

As it happens, they show up at the drive-away shop declaring their desire to go to Tallahassee just after its owner, Curlie (Bill Camp), is told in a shadowy phone call to expect people to take a car, and a “package” hidden inside, to Tallahassee. He thinks Marian and Jamie are those people, which is how these two twentysomething-ish girls looking for relaxation and romance end up in a car with a BEEP and a briefcase full of BEEP in the truck.

We know something’s in the trunk but it would spoil a couple of enjoyably dumb moments to tell you what it is.

Initially, I found Qualley’s Jamie deeply aggravating, Juno’s Juno dipped in a coating of Pulp Fiction. There is purposefully cartoony and then there is the Texas accent and devil-may-care affectations of this character and I just wanted Jamie to calm down — a vibe that extended to the movie overall. But then, at about the halfway point, the movie started to click. It found the key that it was meant to be in; it got how to mix the stuff about Marian and Jamie — their individual issues, their friendship-and-maybe-more with each other — with the crime caper. It wandered fully into the land of nuttiness and it dragged Colman Domingo, Matt Damon and Miley Cyrus with it. It gave in, or maybe I gave in, to the 2020s approach to the 1990s-ish take on the 1970s dirtbag indie tone of it all.

And I found it all kind of cute, sweet even.

Drive-Away Dolls doesn’t quite fill its 84 minutes; there is some bagginess that I wish the movie could have filled with more character detail or humor or something other than the banter that feels particularly loud and heavy in the beginning. But by the end, this movie won me over. B-

Rated R for crude sexual content, full nudity, language and some violent content, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Ethan Coen with a screenplay by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, Drive-Away Dolls is an hour and 24 minutes long and is released in theaters by Focus Features.

Featured photo: Drive-Away-Dolls.

Summer of Adventure

Your guide to summer day camps

The calendar says winter but when it comes to signing kids up for day camps, summer 2024 is already here.

Many camps begin sign-ups in February or even January, with previous years’ campers often getting early access to registration. (A tip for parents just entering the camp game is to take a less-than-ideal week your first year to get a foot in the door and get access to early sign-ups the next year. Another tip is to see if there is a waitlist for camps that are full — this far in advance, plans can change and spaces can open up.)

Here are some of the area day camps (camps offering at least half-day sessions) that have plans for summer 2024. Information comes from the organizations’ websites unless otherwise stated. (Some camps may also have extended care options and counselor-in-training options for teenagers not mentioned here.) Know of a camp not mentioned here? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

General Interest Day Camp

Amherst Parks & Recreation amherstnh.myrec.com In addition to its daylong summer camps, the Amherst Parks & Recreation department offers half-day and part-day camps on a variety of subjects including “Art Around the World” (July 8-11, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; for grades 1-5); “Creative Skill Builders Camp” (Aug. 19-22, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; grades 1-5); “Eagles Basketball Camp” (sessions vary based on age); “Mini Camp at Outdoor Discovery” (weeklong June 24 through Aug. 2, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; ages 4 and 5) and “Move More Camp” (grades 3-6; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. the weeks of June 17, July 8 and Aug. 5.

Baboosic Lake Summer Camp Baboosic Lake Beach in Amherst; amherstnh.myrec.com Camp for kids entering grades 1 through 7 will feature crafts, swimming, games and more, during weeklong sessions running June 24 through Aug. 16, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with before (as early as 7 a.m.) and after care (as late as 5:30 p.m.) available with advance registration and an additional fee. Campers need to be able to swim. $335 per week for nonresidents; $285 for Amherst residents.

Boys & Girls Club of Central and Northern New Hampshire nhyouth.org/summer-camps Summer camps are geared to kids entering kindergarten through 8th grade (with some opportunities for older kids and counselors in training depending on the location). This Boys & Girls Club offers summer camps at 14 locations — see the website for camps in Sutton, New London, Lisbon, Laconia and Andover.

Suncook Clubhouse (8 Whitten St. in Allenstown; 210-2854) will operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Bradley Street Clubhouse (55 Bradley St. in Concord; 224-1061) will operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Christa McAuliffe School (17 N. Spring St. in Concord; 268-9568) will serve kids going into kindergarten through 6th grade and operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Epsom Central School (282 Black Hall Road in Epsom; 268-9566) will operate 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Maple Street School Hopkinton (194 Maple St. in Contoocook; 268-9562) will operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Penacook location (26 Washington St. in Penacook; 224-1061) will operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Simonds Elementary School (Church St. in Warner; 268-9561) will operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Weare Upper Elementary/Middle School (16 East Road in Weare) will operate 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; cost is $210 per week before May 1, $235 after.

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua 1 Positive Place in Nashua; bgcn.com/summer-camp; 883-0523 Nine weeklong sessions running June 24 through Aug. 23, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, with early-bird option as early as 7 a.m. Programs are divided by Early Learning Center Day Camp (kindergarten through 3rd grade); Ohana-Nash Summer Camp (4th through 6th grade); Tween (entering 7th grade) and Teen (8th through 12th grade). See the website for each week’s theme and for the various pricing options according to age, income and number of weeks.

Boys & Girls Club of the Souhegan Valley 56 Mont Vernon St. in Milford; svbgc.org; 672-1002. Weeklong sessions run June 17 through Aug. 23 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for kids ages kindergarten through 12th grade, divided in groups by ages. Activity offerings include arts, dance, science, STEAM, sports, swimming, field trips and more, according to the website. $225 per week by April 19; $250 after April 19 plus a one-time swim pass fee and club membership.

Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem NH 3 Geremonty Drive in Salem; salembgc.org/summercamp; 898-7709 Camps are divided into Little Explorers (beginning at age 4), Camp FUNtastic (for 1st- through 5th-graders) and Teen Center Camp (6th grade through age 16). Campers enjoy age-appropriate activities including swimming, gym time, arts and crafts, field trips and more. Weeklong sessions June 17 through Aug. 23, 8:45 a.m. through 4:30 p.m. with extended care offerings from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. $265 per week plus $50 membership fee.

Brainwave STEAM Camps 2nd Nature Academy, 10 Groton Road in Nashua; 881-4815; 2ndnatureacademy.com/brainwave Camps for ages 6 to 14, with some classes geared to more narrow age ranges, with focuses on arts (such as “En Plein Air” and “Brainwave Comic-Zines”), science (“Python Unleashed” and “Atomic Odyssey”), maker stuff (“Paperpalooza” and “Bling Fling”) gaming and more. Weeks of June 24 through Aug. 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with extended care options 7:30 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. $440 for most weeks.

Brentwood Summer Camp Brentwood Recreation Complex, 190 Route 125 in Brentwood; rec.brentwoodnh.gov/programs/youthEight weeklong sessions featuring water activities, field games, arts & crafts, team-building activities, field trips and more, grouped into Youth Camp (grades 1 through 5) and Adventure Camp (grades 6 to 8). Weeks of June 24 through Aug. 16, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with extended care 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for an extra fee.

Camp Adventure Auburn Parks & Recreation Department; auburnparksandrec.com Four weeklong camps in July (starting the week of July 8) meeting at the Safety Complex at 8:30 a.m. and returning at 4:30 p.m. with kids in grades 5 to 8 taking field trips around the state. Registration is open now for Auburn residents and opens May 1 for nonresidents. $325 per week.

Camp Carpenter 300 Blondin Road in Manchester; nhscouting.org/outdoor-programs/camp-carpenter Cub Scout Camp of the Daniel Webster Council of the Boy Scouts of America offering activities including archery, arts & crafts, BB gun shooting, field sports, nature, Scout skills and more. Five weeklong day camps run the week of July 8 through the week of Aug. 5, 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. Camp director chats via Zoom will be held Sunday, March 31, at 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 28, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 19, at 7 p.m. Camp Carpenter also has an overnight camp program for packs. Cost is $340 for day camp.

Camp Foster 36 Camp Allen Road in Bedford; 644-0102; operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester; mbgcnh.org/programs/summer_programsTen weeklong sessions featuring traditional outdoor day camp activities — swimming, arts & crafts, field games, boating, hiking, athletics and more — and a weekly field trip. The camp runs the week of June 17 through the week of Aug. 19. Camp Foster is open to kids in grades 1-7 (in the 2024-2025 school year). Kidz Kamp for kids entering kindergarten takes place at the Union Street Clubhouse (555 Union St. in Manchester) and also features age-appropriate field trips. A “Summer Teen/Tween Program” offers a drop-in option for kids grades 6 to 12, Monday through Fridays from 1 to 7 p.m. with some pre-scheduled field trips. Camp Foster runs from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cost is Boys & Girls Club membership fees plus $200 per week.

Camp Kettleford 26 Camp Allen Road in Bedford; girlscoutsgwm.org Day camp of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains. Kettleford offers weeklong sessions for girls in kindergarten through 8th grade and two-week programs for girls over 5th grade. Sessions start the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 12. Each session has themes. A virtual camp chat will be held Monday, April 8, at 6:30 p.m. and an open camp day will be held Sunday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to noon. Campers can be dropped off at 9 a.m. and picked up at 5 p.m. or ride a bus from set locations. Weeklong programs cost $350; two-week programs cost $675.

Camp Lincoln 67 Ball Road in Kingston; 642-3361; ymcacamplincoln.org; hosted by Southern District YMCA, sdymca.org Six weeklong sessions (weeks of June 17, June 24, July 8, July 22, Aug. 5 and Aug 19) offer a traditional day camp for kids in kindergarten through 9th grade as well as specialty camps during some weeks with subjects such as cooking, survival, mountain biking, fantasy games, theater, woodworking, jewelry, movie production and adventure (field trips). There are also counselor-in-training programs. Cost varies according to program. Bus pickups are available (may vary from session to session) including stops in Windham, Derry and Londonderry. Dropoff is at 8:30 a.m., with pickup at 4:30 p.m.

Camp Lovewell 2nd Nature Academy, 10 Groton Road in Nashua; 881-4815; camplovewell.com Nine weeklong sessions the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 19 with the camp offering team-building activities, ropes course, archery, arts & crafts, nature studies and orienteering, farm animal visits, swimming, kayaking, sports and field games, drama and skits, hiking and exploration and more, according to the website. Camp is for ages 6 to 14 and runs 9 a.m to 4 p.m., with extended care 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (for extra fees). $420 for ages 6 to 8, $410 for ages 9 to 14, plus a registration fee.

Camp Naticook merrimackparksandrec.org Weeklong camp sessions at Wasserman Park in Merrimack starting the week of June 24 with each week themed (“Aloha Summer” is the first week) and campers participating in a variety of activities including arts & crafts, archery, boating in Naticook Lake, nature, sports & games, theater and more. A daily hot lunch is provided. Camp runs 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with extended care available as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 6 p.m. Camp is for kids entering kindergarten through 5th grade in fall of 2024; 5th-graders can choose between Camp Naticook and Camp Trek. $248 per week for Merrimack residents, $360 per week for nonresidents. Additional fees for extended care. Sibling discounts are available.

Camp Otter 66 Hooker Farm Road in Salem; camp.mvymca.org/camp-otter A coed day camp on Captain’s Pond with “weekly themes, a swimming area for both instructional and free swim time, boating, basketball/volleyball courts, a baseball/soccer field, an archery and air rifle range, arts & crafts, ropes courses and more. Daily transportation is provided throughout the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire,” according to the website. The camp is operated by Merrimack Valley YMCA, based in Massachusetts (mvymca.org), and runs the weeks of June 24 through Aug. 26, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost varies per week.

Camp Ponemah Hampshire Hills Athletic Club, 50 Emerson Road in Milford; 673-7123, ext. 272; hampshirehills.com/camp-ponemah 10 weeklong sessions run the week of June 17 through the week of Aug. 19 featuring games, swimming, crafts and more, 7:30 a.m. (camp begins at 9 a.m.) to 4 p.m., with extended care Mondays through Thursdays to 5:30 p.m. Camp is for kids kindergarten through 7th grade. A Little Warriors program for ages 4 and 5 runs seven weeks (weeks of June 24 through Aug. 5) 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; Troop T is for grades 8 and 9 and also runs those seven weeks. $359 for nonmembers, $309 for members for the main camp. Price varies for Little Warriors and Troop T. Discounts for siblings.

Camp Trek merrimackparksandrec.org Weeklong camp sessions meeting in Merrimack for kids in grades 5-9 starting the week of June 24 and running through the week of Aug. 19. This camp is a trip- and activity-based program with daily field trips (such as, during the first week, to a ninja gym, Surry Mountain Lake, the movie theater, Canobie Lake Park and Wallis Sands State Beach). Camp runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with trips departing between 8:30 and 9 a.m. and getting back in the afternoon before camp ends. Extended care is available as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 6 p.m. $340 for Merrimack residents, $390 for nonresidents, with extra fees for extended care and sibling discounts.

Camp Witzel bedfordnh.myrec.com Seven-week camp of weeklong sessions based in Bedford for ages 6 to 13. Each week has a theme — “Game Show Mania” for July 15-19, for example — and a field trip destination (that week is Canobie Lake Park in Salem). Sessions start the week of June 24 and run through the week of Aug. 5. The camp runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily (July 1-3 only that week). $300 for a five-day week, including field trip, for Bedford residents; $315 for nonresidents. Discounts for going fewer days, for the short July 1 week and for multiple siblings registered the same week.

Concord Parks & Recreation Adventure Camp City-Wide Community Center, 14 Canterbury Road in Concord, concordparksandrec.com , 225-8690 Open to grades 3 through 8, the camp features beach trips, hikes, theme parks, kayaking, surfing and more, with out-of-town trips generally Monday through Thursday and Friday spent in town, according to a Parks & Rec email. The cost per week is $205 for Concord residents; $215 for non-residents. The camp runs the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 12, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

Concord Parks & Recreation Stay & Play Summer Camp City-Wide Community Center, 14 Canterbury Road in Concord, concordparksandrec.com , 225-8690 Open to 1st through 5th graders, this 8-week traditional day camp will feature swimming, arts & crafts, field games and more, according to a Parks & Rec official. The cost is $175 for Concord residents; $185 for non-residents. The camp runs the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 12, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

Girls, Inc. of New Hampshire 340 Varney St. in Manchester, 623-1117; 27 Burke St., Nashua, 882-6256; girlsincnewhampshire.org Eight weeklong sessions of camp, starting June 24, featuring field trips, swimming, weekly themes and more for girls entering kindergarten through 7th grade. Breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner are provided. Cost is $225 — with sliding fee scales, financial assistance and scholarships available.

Granite State YMCA graniteymca.org/camps/day-camp The Granite State YMCA offers day camps at 10 locations as well as two overnight camps — Camp Foss for girls ages 7 to 15 (campfoss.org) and Camp Mi-Te-Na for boys ages 7 to 15 (campmitena.org). See the website for day camp offerings in Somersworth, the Seacoast and Strafford County.

YMCA of Downtown Manchester(30 Mechanic St.; 437-9622) Weeklong summer programs for ages 6-11 featuring arts, sports, swimming, field trips and more, running the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 11; prices are $285 per week, with discounts for members and siblings. The camp runs from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with swim lessons offered for an extra price. The Manchester location also has a Teen Trip Camp for ages 7th grade through 11th grade, featuring daily field trips, the weeks of July 1 through the week of Aug. 12. That camp runs 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with before and after care options. The cost for most weeks is $409, with discounts for members.

YMCA Allard Center of Goffstown (116 Goffstown Back Road; 497-4663) Camp Halfmoon features nine weeklong camp sessions that run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (with before and after care options) the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 19. The camp is divided into Astros (entering 1st and 2nd grade), Cosmos (entering 3rd and 4th grade) and Explorers (5th through 8th grade). Each week has a theme. Halfmoon generally offers the traditional outdoor day camp experience with arts & crafts, archery, climbing, field games, swimming and more. The cost is $335 per week, with discounts for members. Camp Quartermoon for kids entering kindergarten also offers a similar full-day experience (the cost is $240 for non-members). Specialty camps on subjects like baking, archery, art, photography and more are also offered (with more narrow age groups and different fees). Teen Trip camp (for ages 12 to 16) features weeklong sessions with daily field trips for $409 for non-members running the weeks of July 1 through the week of Aug. 12. Teens can also join Leader In Training (for ages 13-14) and Counselor In Training (for ages 15-16), which are multi-week sessions. The Allard center also offers weeklong sessions of Ninja, Cheerleading and Gymnastics camps (ages 6 to 18, depending on the subject), with half-day options for kids 4 to 6; weeklong sessions of Adventure Camps for ages 10-11 and 12-15, and tennis camps for ages 6-16.

Camp Mowkawogan (Abbot-Downing School, 152 South St. in Concord; 228-9622) Nine weeklong sessions for ages 6 to 14 begin the week of June 24 and run through the week of Aug. 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with before and after care options as early as 7 a.m. and as late as 5:30 p.m. The camp experience includes swimming and field trips. Campers are in groups divided by age and the cost is $285 per week for nonmembers. Leader In Training camps are available for ages 13-14 in three two-week sessions.

YMCA Day Camp of Hooksett (Hooksett Memorial School, 5 Memorial Drive in Hooksett; 623-3558) Eight weeklong camps run the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 12, with a traditional camp experience for ages 6-10, grouped by age (the cost is $285 for nonmembers), a teen camp for ages 11-13 (also $285 for nonmembers) and a Leader In Training program for ages 13-14 that runs for three two-week sessions ($300 per session). The camp runs 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with before and after care options and discounts for members and Hooksett residents.

Camp Pa-Gon-Ki (206 Rockingham Road in Londonderry; 437-9622) Nine weeklong sessions run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for ages 4-5 and 6-15 the weeks of June 24 through Aug. 19. An extra three-day pre-week session runs June 19-21 for ages 6 and up. The kids are grouped by age and enjoy a traditional outdoor day camp experience including sports and swimming. An additional swimming lesson option is available, as well as before and after care as early as 7 a.m. and as late at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $325 for non-members. Specialty camps, which include fort-building, dodgeball, basketball, art, soccer and more, run for more limited age groups during specific weeks (cost is $358). Leader in Training (for ages 13-14) and Counselor in Training (15-16) run for two-week sessions.

Derry Voyager Camp (location TBD; 437-9622) Eight weeklong camps run June 24 through Aug. 12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for ages 6-11. The cost is $270 for nonmembers. Each week is themed; campers take part in STEAM-based activities related to each week’s theme.

Windham Explorers Camp (Windham Center School, 2 Lowell Road; 437-9622) Eight weeklong camps run June 24 through Aug. 12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., for ages 6-11. The cost is $270 for nonmembers. Each week is themed; campers take part in STEAM-based activities related to each week’s theme.

Hudson Parks & Recreation Summer Program hudsonnh.gov/recreation/page/summer-program Hudson offers a program running from the end of June through mid-August, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday for kids ages 6 to 14. Registration opens March 19.

IMAGINE Camps New Morning Schools, 23 Back River Road in Bedford; 669-3591; newmorningschools.com Indoor and outdoor activities and clubs for kids age 6 to 12. Camp is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays with weekly and daily options. There is also a preschool camp for ages 3 to 6 who are independent bathroom users. Check with the website for updates regarding summer offerings.

Krazy Kids 60 Sheep Davis Road in Pembroke; krazykids.com/register-for-summer-camp, 228-PLAY Nine weeklong sessions June 24 through Aug. 23 featuring indoor and outdoor play and a once-a-week field trip. Camp is for ages 5 to 11 and runs 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with extended care as early as 7:30 a.m. and as late as 5:30 p.m. $225, with extra fees for field trips and discounts for siblings.

Fun in the Sun from Manchester Parks & Rec; manchesternh.recdesk.com Camp for ages 6 to 12 (must be a Manchester resident) takes place at Livingston Park, JFK Coliseum and Piscataquog River Park. The camp is free to attend and runs from July 8 through Aug. 16. Registration will be live in April.

Manchester Police Athletic League 409 Beech St. in Manchester; 626-0211; manchesterpoliceathleticleague.org MPAL is open to kids ages 5 to 18 who are attending school. The summer program runs Mondays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to noon. Call for details.

My Gym Children’s Fitness Center 410 S. River Road in Bedford; 668-7196; mygym.com/bedford Two-day mini camps (Tuesday and Thursdays, 1 to 3:30 p.m.) are offered for potty-trained kids ages 4 to 9 the week of June 25 through the week of Aug. 20. Cost is $49 per session.

Nashua Parks & Recreation summer camp nashua.recdesk.com Weeklong camps will run from the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 19. Registration will begin March 1; see website.

North End Montessori School 698 Beech St. in Manchester; northendmontessori.com; 621-6011 The school offers summer programming starting June 17 and running through Aug. 30. This year’s theme is “Passport Around the World,” with each week having its own focus such as North America (week 1), Africa (week 5), Antarctica (week 8), International Food and Music (week 9) and more.

Outdoor Discovery Camp Peabody Mill Environmental Center in Amherst; amherstnh.myrec.com A fun-filled camp focused on exploring the great outdoors and encouraging an appreciation for the natural environment,” according to the website. Weeklong sessions run June 24 through Aug. 16, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday with before and after care options. Camp is for kids entering grades 1 through 6. $335 for nonresidents, $285 for residents, with daily and full summer fee options.

Voyager Camp londonderrynh.gov/recreation Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays, June 26 through Aug. 9, for ages 11 to 15. “The program is field trip-based with campers having the option to visit 2 to 3 locations each week, which includes hiking, deep sea fishing, amusement parks, and other adventure-based destinations. In addition to the registration fee, each trip will have its own fee associated with it. The trip brochure will be available in March,” according to the website. $50 for residents, $60 for nonresidents — plus a per-trip fee.

SummerQuest at World Academy 138 Spit Brook Road in Nashua; 888-1982; worldacademynh.comFive two-week sessions for kindergarteners through 4th-graders that offers field trips, geocaching, camping, recreational activities, sports, science experiments and more. Two-week sessions begin with June 17-28; final session is Aug. 12-23. Camp runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended care offerings from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The cost of SummerQuest is $320 (plus additional fees for extended care).

Enrichment Camp, open to grades 5 to 8, runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and begins weeklong sessions starting June 24; each week has a theme. Cost is $350.

STEAM Academy, also for grades 5 to 8, runs from 8 to 11:30 a.m. (with full day care options) and has new themes each week starting July 1. The cost for the half day is $210.

YMCA of Greater Nashua nmyaca.org The YMCA of Greater Nashua offers camps at Camp Sargent (141 Camp Sargent Road in Merrimack); Merrimack YMCA (6 Henry Clay Drive in Merrimack); Nashua YMCA (24 Stadium Dr. in Nashua), and Westwood Park YMCA (90 Northwest Blvd. in Nashua). Camp Sargent offers traditional day camp activities such as swimming, boating, arts and crafts, hiking, games, gaga ball and more as well as specialty camps such as “Superhero Training Camp” and “Farm Camp.” At Merrimack YMCA Camp Create includes a variety of arts- and STEAM-themed camps. Both Merrimack YMCA and Nashua YMCA offer camps geared toward 3- to 5-year-olds. Merrimack YMCA and Westwood Park YMCA both offer sports camps. Camps run the week of June 17 through the week of Aug. 26, with an 8:45-to-9:15 a.m. check-in and a 4-to-4:15 p.m. dismissal with pre-camp starting as early as 7 a.m. and post-camp running as late as 6 p.m. (registration required). Cost varies according to camp; discount for siblings.

Academics

Academic & College Prep Programs The Derryfield School, 2108 River Road in Manchester; derryfield.org/about/summer-programs Half-day “Jump Start Your College Essay” classes for rising 11th- and 12th-graders and “ACT/SAT Prep” divided into math and verbal. Registration opens in March.

Academic Enrichment at University of New Hampshire Durham campus; unh.edu/youthprograms Academic-focused camps include “Camp Pageturner” (weeklong sessions for grades 1 to 5, the week of June 24 through the week of July 29; $275); “Writer’s Academy” (weeklong session June 24-29, grouped by age for grades 5-6, grades 7-8 and grades 9-12, and July 8-12, grouped by grades 6-8 and grades 9-12, 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.; $325), as well as other programs specifically for teens and high school students.

Nashua Community College505 Amherst St. in Nashua; nashuacc.edu/about/for-the-public/summer-camps; 578-8979 Summer camp programs at Nashua Community College include “Finding My Career” for rising 6th- through 12th-graders (week of July 8) featuring “exploration of career pathways in the social and health sciences”; “Exploring the World of Public Health” (week of July 15) for 10th- through 12th-graders, and “Skills for High School and College Success” (week of July 22) for 6th- through 12th-graders. Email KEckenrode@ccsnh.edu.

Art

Children’s Museum of New Hampshire 6 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org; 742-2002 Mini-camps run Tuesdays through Thursdays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. with art and art-adjacent themes and feature art, STEAM and other hands-on activities. A camp for ages 4 and 5 takes place July 9-11; the rest of the camps are in August. 3D Print It camp (Aug. 13-15) is for ages 8 through 11+; the rest of the camps are for ages 4-5 or 6-7. Cost is $140 per session.

Creative Ventures Gallery 411 Nashua St. in Milford; creativeventuresfineart.com; 672-2500 “Art of the Seasons” with Kristine Mancuso runs Aug. 5-8 for ages 8 to 12; “Art In Animation” with Kristine Mancuso runs Aug. 12-15, 9 a.m. to noon, for ages 8 to 12. Cost is $125.

Currier Museum of Art 150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org; 518-4922 The theme of this year’s art camps is “Time Bandits,” with weeks focused on different eras of art and culture, starting with “Raiders of the Lost Arts” June 24-28, focusing on “paleolithic cave drawings, early marine adventurers, ancient cultures and more,” according to the website. Six weeks of camp run through the week of Aug. 19. Camps are for ages 6 to 14, with kids divided into ages 6-7, 8-10 and 11-14. Student dropoff is 9:15 to 9:30 a.m. and pickup is at 4 p.m. Thursdays there is a student exhibition at 3:45 p.m. $375 per week ($337.50 for members).

Hollis Artspace 30 Ash St. in Hollis; hollisartspace.com/summer; 465-4300 Look for details about the coming summer after February school vacation. Summer 2023 offerings included half-day art programs and minicamps.

Kimball Jenkins 266 N. Main St. in Concord; kimballjenkins.com/youth-summer-camp-2024; 225-3932 Eight weeks of themed weeklong camps for ages 6 to 17, with kids grouped according to age. Campers will get to work in a variety of media including sculpture, painting, clay, printmaking, drawing and more with outdoor time and group activities. The camp runs the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 19. Dropoff is 8:30 to 9 a.m. and pickup is at 4 p.m. with extended care to 5 p.m. available for $30 per week. $320, discount for members and multi-week registration.

Paint pARTy 135 N. Broadway in Salem; 898-8800; paintpartynh.com Four-day, three-hour-per-day sessions July 8 (for grades 1 to 4), July 15 (grades 5 to 8), July 22 (grades 1 to 4), July 29 (grades 5 to 8) and Aug. 5 (grade 1 to 4). $160.

Studio 550 Community Art Center 550 Elm St. in Manchester; 232-5597; 550arts.com Offerings for summer 2024 so far include Tween/Teen Clay for ages 10+ with sessions June 24-28, July 22-26 and Aug. 12-16, all 2:30 to 5 p.m. Tween/Teen Illustration, also ages 10+, runs July 29-Aug. 2, 2:30 to 5 p.m. Arts Explorer for ages 8+ will run July 12-8 and Aug. 5-9, 2:30 to 5 p.m. See the website three months in advance to register and for pricing.

Aviation & Space

Aviation Museum of NH27 Navigator Road in Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org; 669-4820 The “Flights of Discovery” Aviation Educational Camp feature two-week sessions that cover aviation history, aerospace engineering, flight simulation and more, with field trips to watch aircraft take off and land, explore the Air National Guard base, experience air traffic control and more. A session Monday, June 17, through Friday, June 28, is open for ages 10 to 13. The second session runs Monday, July 8, through Friday, July 19, and is open to ages 14 through 17. Ages 10 to 13 get a second camp session Monday, July 22, through Friday, Aug. 2. Camps run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost: $1,100 (financial aid/scholarships available)

McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center 2 Institute Dr. in Concord; starhop.com; 271-7827 The Center offers seven weeklong STEM camps with four focused on space or rockets — “Blast Off” for ages 8 to 11, July 8-12; “Up, Up, And Away” for ages 5 to 7, July 15-19; “Star Hunters” for ages 8 to 12, July 22-26, and “So You Wanna Be An Astronaut” for ages 5 to 7, Aug. 5-9. These camps run either 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (for ages 5-7) or 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (for older kids). $345 per week.

Nashua Community College505 Amherst St. in Nashua; nashuacc.edu/about/for-the-public/summer-camps; 578-8979 Summer camp programs at Nashua Community College include “Aviation” for 6th- through 12th-graders, which looks at different careers in aviation, week of July 29.

WinnAero’s Ace Academy Laconia Airport, 65 Aviation Way in Gilford; winnaero.org/registerAviation- and aerospace-related camps, divided by age groups. Half-day camps “Foundations of Aviation and Space Sciences” for ages 5 to 7 run July 8-12 and July 15-19. Middle school aviation classes (for grades 6 to 8) run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily July 8-12 and include “Pilot and Air Traffic Control,” “Pilot and Search/Rescue & Emergency Services” and “Pilot and Aerospace Engineering/Manufacturing.” A middle school (grades 6 to 8) girls-only academy with female instructors runs July 15-19. A middle school space academy (focuses on aerospace careers) runs July 15-19. Three aviation-focused high school (grades 9 through 12) sessions are available with two July 8-12 and one July 15-19; a fourth session held July 15-19 is focused on drones and unmanned aerial systems. Half-day classes for ages 5 to 7 cost $330 per session. Middle and high school full-day classes cost $600. The high school drone class costs $690.

Dance

Alicia’s School of Dance 563 Route 106 in Loudon; 496-9762; aliciasschoolofdance.comIn 2023 Alicia’s offered a weeklong half-day camp for ages 6+ that included learning all styles of dance as well as doing crafts and playing games. Check back with the school for this year’s information.

Allegro Dance Academy 100 Factory St. in Nashua; 886-7989; allegrodancenh.com Camps are offered for ages 3+ from July 15 through Aug. 15. The schedule will be available April 1.

Bedford Dance Center 172 Route 101 in Bedford; bedforddancecenter.com; 472-5141 Bedford Dance Center offers a variety of summer programing, from weekly hourlong classes in July (for dancers ages 6+) to three-day half-day camps for ages 5 to 8 July 30-Aug. 1, 9 a.m. to noon and more intensive workshops such as Contemporary Workshop July 29-Aug. 2, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for ages 8-13 and 12+ (cost is $375). An Intensive Division Workshop runs Aug. 5-9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for ages 8-13 and 12+ (cost is $395). Costs for other programs vary.

Bedford Youth Performing Company 155 Route 101 in Bedford; bypc.org; 472-3894BYPC’s dance and movement summer offerings include weeklong preschool camps (running most weeks the week of June 10 through the week of July 29, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) for ages 3 and 6 on subjects including science, theater, superheroes and circus. For older kids, a Dance Boot Camp (ages 12+) runs June 17-21, 4 to 9 p.m., and Acro Circus Camp (ages 8 to 12) runs July 29-Aug. 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The school also offers summer music classes. See website for pricing.

Broadway Bound Performing Arts Center 501 Daniel Webster Hwy. in Merrimack; 429-8844; broadwayboundpac.com Broadway Bound offers workshops and classes in August as well as camps — Musical Theatre Camp July 1-20, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for ages 6 to 18, culminating in a production of Descendants The Musical ($750); Kid Dance Camp Aug. 5-9, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for ages 4 to 11 ($275), and Intensive Dance Camp Aug. 12-16, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. ($250).

Concord Dance Academy 26 Commercial St. in Concord; 226-0200; concorddanceacademy.com Dance Camp, July 22-26, runs full day (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; $275) or half day (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; $160) with early dropoff (7:30 a.m.) and late pickup (5:30 p.m.) available. A mini camp (half day) is geared toward ages 3 to 5. Recreational camp (ages 4 to 12) offers dance classes in a variety of styles as well as nature walks, arts and crafts and more. Intensive Camp (ages 8 to 13) is for dancers who want to be challenged and critiqued, the website said.

Creative Dance Workshop of Bow 1355 Route 3A, Unit A & B, in Bow; 225-7711; nhdances.com This year’s summer camp lineup features a variety of themes for the weeks of June 24, July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29. See the website for details and to register.

The Dance Company 130 Route 101A in Amherst; 864-8374; thedancecompanyonline.comIn addition to classes, private lessons and one-day events, The Dance Company offers an Acro Camp July 23-25, 1 to 4 p.m., for ages 3-6 and 7-11 ($130); Camp Dance June 24-28, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for ages 5-10 ($275) and Level Up Intensive Aug. 12-16, 9 a.m. to noon for ages 6-10 ($225) and then 12:30 to 7 p.m. for ages 10+ ($485).

Dance Visions Network 699 Mast Road in Manchester; 626-7654; dancevisionsnetwork.comLast year Dance Visions offered a mini-camp (half day) for ages 3 to 6, a three-day full-day camp for ages 7 to 15 and a dance intensive. Check back for summer 2024 information.

Dimensions in Dance 84 Myrtle St. in Manchester; 668-4196; dimensionsindance.comFairy Tale Dance Camp,” pre-ballet, is open to ages 3 to 6, July 15-19, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ($230 by March 15, $260 after). Level 1-2 Dance camp is open to grades 1 to 3, July 15-19, 9 a.m to 2:30 p.m. ($325 by March 15; $350 after). Level 3-4 Junior Dance Intensive is open to ages 8 to 12, July 29-Aug. 2, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ($375 by March 15; $410 after). Summer Dance Intensive for Levels 5-Adult runs July 29-Aug. 2 and Aug. 5-9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ($425 for one week, $790 for two weeks before March 15; $460 and $860 after).

Happy Feet Dance School 25 Indian Rock Road in Windham; 434-4437; happyfeetdanceschool.bizLast year’s summer offerings included classes as well as three-day half-day camps. Check back for 2024 updates.

Kathy Blake Dance Studios 3 Northern Blvd. in Amherst; 673-3978; kathyblakedancestudios.com Three-day mini camps, 9 to 11:30 a.m., will take place July 9-11, July 16-18, July 23-25, July 30-Aug. 1, Aug. 6-8 and Aug. 13-15, with each session split into age groups 3-5 and 6-8. The cost is $150 with a multiclass discount. The studio is also offering six-week weekly dance classes and dance team workshops.

Martin School of Dance 288 Route 101, Suite 202, in Bedford; 488-2371; martinschoolofdance.com Dance camp offerings for ages 5 to 7 include Circus June 24-29, Outer Space July 8-12 and Magical Fantasy July 15-19, all 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. featuring dance, outdoor activities, an end-of-week performance and more. JR Summer Dance Camp (ages 7 to 9) has themes including Taylor Swift (July 22-26) and Red Carpet (July 29-Aug. 2), both 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are two weeklong Summer Dance Intensive Sessions for ages 9 to 18, Aug. 5-9 and Aug. 12-16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Melissa Hoffman Dance Center 210 Robinson Road in Hudson; 886-7909; melissahoffmandancecenter.info A three-day mini camp is offered for ages 2 to 4 (“My FIrst Dance Camp” July 8-10, 9:30 to 11 a.m.; $75). Five-day half-day ( 9 a.m. to noon) camp sessions are offered for ages 3 to 7 (“Kitty Camp” July 15-19 and “Princess Camp” July 22-26; $230). Swiftie Camp, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., for ages 6 to 12, will run July 29-Aug. 2 and Aug. 5-9; $260. The center will also hold a series of summer parties ($45 per event).

Miss Kelsey’s Dance Studio 2626 Brown Ave. in Manchester; 606-2820; mkdance.com One-day, three-day and full-week camps. Three-day camps include “Fashion Dolls & Dude Dreamtopia” (June 24-26, noon to 3 p.m., ages 5 to 10), “Christmas in July” (July 16-18, 9 a.m. to noon, ages 5 to 9) and “Groove and Doodle” (July 16-18, noon to 3 p.m., ages 5 to 9). The full-week camp is “Afternoon Adventures in a Magic Mouse House” for ages 5 to 10, June 24-28, 3 to 6 p.m. Prices vary according to class.

Nancy Chippendale’s Dance Studios 49 Range Road, Building No. 2, Suite A, in Windham; 458-7730; chippswindham.com Camps for preschool through 1st grade include “Princess Power” (July 8-12 and July 15-19, 9 a.m. to noon) and “Chipp Dance Party” (July 29-Aug. 2, 9 a.m. to noon). A “Little Chipp Bootcamp” for dancers ages 2nd to 5th grade takes place Aug. 5-9, 9 a.m. to noon.

New England School of Dance 679 Mast Road in Manchester; newenglandschoolofdance.com/summer2024; 935-7326 The school offers mini camps for ages 3 to 6 (July 23 & July 25 for “Circus Camp” and July 30 & Aug. 1 for “Teddy Bear Picnic”; 9 a.m. to noon); technique classes for ages 3 and up, and weeklong summer intensives (9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for ages 6 to 8, to 3 p.m. for ages 9 to 11 and to 4 p.m. for ages 12 and older). Cost varies depending on the class and how many classes.

New Hampshire Academie of Dance 1 Action Blvd., No. 4, in Londonderry; 432- 4041; nhadance.com Summer 2024 information is listed as coming soon; check back for updates.

N-Step Dance Center 1134 Hooksett Road in Hooksett; 641-6787; nstepdance.com Weeklong musical theater camps run 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., June 24-28 (Encanto), July 29-Aug. 2 (The Little Mermaid) and Aug. 12-16 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). The cost is $250. The center also offers weeklong Intensive camps — Junior Intensive July 22-26 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. ($350), Teen Intensive July 22-26 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ($350) and Aug 5.-9 5 to 8 p.m. ($25) — and a series of weekly classes.

Southern New Hampshire Dance Theater 19 Harvey Road in Bedford; 637-4398; snhdt.org Princess Camp (age 3 to 5) runs June 25-27 (9:30 to 11:30 a.m. or 2 to 4 p.m.) and July 9-11 (9:30 to 11:30 a.m.). Young Dancer Workshop (age 6 to 8 or age 9-12) runs July 15-19, 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Summer Intensive (age 10 to 19) runs July 22 to Aug. 9.

Turning Pointe Center of Dance 371 Pembroke St. in Pembroke; 485-8710; turningpointecenterofdance.com A Summer Dance Camp runs June 24-28, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., for ages 5 to 10. The cost is $165 for the week. The school also offers a weekly July class series for grades 7 through 12.

Unbound Dance Academy 237 Londonderry Tpke. in Hooksett; 714-2821; unbounddanceacademy.com A musical theater camp culminating in a performance of Matilda runs the week of July 8 (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.) for ages 8 to 13 ($275). A mini Acro camp runs July 15-17 (5 to 6 p.m., Levels 1-3, $50, and 6 to 7:30 p.m. for intermediate/advanced, $75). Princess Camp runs July 15-19, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for ages 4 to 7 ($300). Nutcracker Camp runs July 22-24, 9 a.m. to noon, for ages 6 to 12 ($150). A Ballet Intensive for Levels 3+ runs July 29-31, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($140). The school also offers a four-week ballet session (one class per week) in August and a series of Ballerina Tea Parties on Wednesdays in August.

Games

Chess Wizards bedfordnh.myrec.com Morning, afternoon or full-day chess camp for grades 1-5 at Bedford Town Hall (70 Bedford Center Road in Bedford). July 15-19 at either 9 a.m. to noon, noon to 3 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $215 for half day, $315 for full day

Esports Summer Camp at Southern New Hampshire University William S. and Joan Green Center, 2500 N. River Road in Hooksett; esports@snhu.edu In 2023 SNHU offered an esports camp with sessions for ages 12-14, 15-18 and 12-18.

Gymnastics

A2 Gym & Cheer 16B Garabedian Drive in Salem; 328-8130; a2gc.com Seven weeks of summer camp are open to ages 5 to 11 with full- and half-day options. Check back for 2024 details.

Gymnastics Village 13 Caldwell Drive in Amherst; 889-8092; gymnasticsvillage.com Nine weeklong sessions (week of June 24 through week of Aug. 19) with full- (9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) and half-day (9 a.m. to noon) options. Gymnastics and Ninja camps are open to ages 6 to 14 with a junior half-day camp open to 4- and 5-year olds. Half-day camps are $200 per week or $45 per day; full-day camps are $305 per week or $65 per day (with sibling and multi-week discounts).

Gym-Ken Gymnastics 184 Rockingham Road in Windham; 434-9060; gymkengymnastics.com “Wet & Wild Summer”runs July 8 through Aug. 23, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (pickup is 4 to 5 p.m.) with early dropoff as early as 7:30 a.m. and late pickup until 5:30 p.m. for additional fees. The swim and gym program is open to ages 5 to 12. $75 per day or $350 per week, with discounts for multiple weeks and siblings.

Impact Gymnastics 301 River Road in Bow; 219-0343; impact-gymnastics.com Seven weeklong camps for ages 5 to 13 running the week of July 1 through the week of Aug. 12, each week with a theme as well as swimming, outdoor play, movie Fridays and more. Camps run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with extended care as early as 7:30 a.m. and as late as 5:30 p.m. for additional fees. $285 weekly.

Noha’s Gymnastics Academy 200 Perimeter Road in Manchester, 518-7660; 30 Pond St. in Nashua, 880-4927; ngacademy.us Full- and half-day (morning or afternoon) camps are offered in Manchester in weeklong sessions June 10 through the week of Aug. 19. Each week has a theme. Full-day camp runs 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; half-days are offered 8 a.m. to noon and noon to 4 p.m. Until April 1 full day is $300 and half day is $200; after, full day is $350 and half day is $250.

Sky High Gymnastics 185 Elm St., No. 2, in Milford; 554-1097; skyhighgym.com Last year’s camps were weeklong sessions featuring theme weeks for ages 5 to 12. Check back for 2024 information.

Southern New Hampshire Gymnastics Academy 4 Orchard View Drive, No. 11, Londonderry, 404-6181, snhga.com Weeklong camps for ages 4 and older run the week of June 24 and then the week of July 8 through the week of Aug. 19 will full and half-day options. The days will include gymnastics, arts and crafts, contests, themed activities and more. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (full day); 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (half days) Cost is $75 per day or $240 per week for full days; $50 per day or $180 per week for half days, with extra fees for extended care and sibling discounts.

Tumble Town Gymnastics 444 E. Industrial Park Drive, No. 10, in Manchester; 641-9591; tumbletownnh.com Four weeklong camps the weeks of July 8, July 15, July 29 and Aug. 12, running from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.$225 per week, with discounts for siblings and multiple classes in the same month.

Martial Arts & Ninja

Bedford Martial Arts Academy 292 Route 101 in Bedford; 626-9696; bedfordmartialartsacademy.com Camp features field trips, dodgeball, obstacle courses, indoor and outdoor activities, playground and pool activities and more, according to the website. Contact the school for details.

Empowering Lives Martial Arts 542 Mast Road, No. 15, in Goffstown; 978-414- 5425; martialartsnewhampshire.com Summer camp featuring themed weeks. Call for details.

Granite State American Kenpo Karate 290 Derry Road, No. 5, in Hudson; 598-5400; gsakenpo.com Camp offers indoor and outdoor games, arts & crafts, field trips, park visits and outdoor play and more, according to the website. Contact the studio for details.

Phoenix Fire Martial Arts 79 Plaistow Road in Plaistow; 234-8665; phnixfire.comWeeklongcampsessions run June 17 through Aug. 16, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (with early dropoff and late pickup available for an additional fee). Camp will feature martial arts as well as games, crafts, water games, free play and more, the website said. Discounts are available for siblings and for signing up for the full summer.

The Training Station 200 Elm St. in Manchester; 505-0048; thetrainingstationnh.comCamp includes outdoor activities and water games, martial arts games, a visit from a local police officer, a field trip and more. Check back for 2024 information.

USA Ninja Challenge 444 E. Industrial Drive in Manchester; ninjamanchesternh.com; 935-7100 Camps for ages 6 to 12. Check back for 2024 information.

Multimedia

ConcordTV Video camps 170 Warren St. in Concord; yourconcordtv.org Camps will run again this summer; in past years, beginner and advanced video production camps were available. Check back with the website for updates.

Londonderry Access TV Londonderry Access Center, 281 Mammoth Road in Londonderry; 432-1147; lactv.com Kids learn how to make better-quality videos, including shot composition, editing and graphic design, for short-form videos and longer TV shows in a professional studio, according to an email. For kids entering 5th through 8th grade in fall 2024. Monday, July 8, through Friday, July 19, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; kids must be able to attend all days of the camp. $85.

NH Audubon Massabesic Center, 26 Audubon Way in Auburn; 224-9909; nhaudubon.org “Conservation Quest Camp” from Media Power Youth will “merge the excitement of filmmaking with outdoor adventures.” Sessions run the weeks of July 8 and July 15, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For 11- to 14-year-olds. $350 per session.

SEE Science Center 200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org; 669-0400 SEE offers camps mid-July through mid-August including two sessions that have a video-making component — “Flip the Script” camp July 29-Aug. 2 for ages 10 to 14 and “Animation with LEGO” camp Aug. 5-9 or Aug. 12-16 for ages 9 to 12. Both camps run 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. $300.

Music

Bedford Youth Performing Company 155 Route 101 in Bedford; bypc.org; 472-3894BYPC’s summer music offerings include private lessons and Kindermusik (infant through age 7) drop-ins as well as Summer Rock Band Camp — June 17-21 and July 29-Aug 2, 3 to 8 p.m. either week, for grades 4 to 6; July 8-12, 3 to 8 p.m., for grades 7+ — and Summer Recording Camp (grade 7+, Aug. 12-16, 3 to 8 p.m.).

Concord Community Music School 23 Wall St. in Concord; ccmusicschool.org; 228-1196 Full- and half-day camps as well as classes for younger kids, workshops for teens and adults, and private music lessons. Camps include “Piano Dynamos Camp” for ages 9 to 15, June 24-28, 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Summer String Camp for ages 8 to 15, June 24-28, 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; “Summer Jam Camp” for students entering grades 5 to 12, July 8-12 and July 15-19, 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.; “Creative Arts Camp” for students entering grades 1 to 6, July 22-26, July 29-Aug. 2 and Aug. 5-9, each week with a different theme, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (extended care options available) The full-day camps cost $350 per week. “Summer Jam Camp” costs $275.

Let’s Play Music! 145 Hampstead Road in Derry, 425-7575; 2626 Brown Ave. in Manchester, 218-3089; 136 Lowell Road in Hudson, 882-8940; letsplaymusic.com Camps for kids ages 7 to 12 include “Intro to Art And Music” and “Ready to Rock Camp,” both running Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Rock Band Camp” is available for ages 10 to 16, also Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Kidzrock Camp,” for ages 4 to 6, is Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. And there is also a Musical Theater Camp for ages 8 to 16. Go online to request information on specific camps and specific weeks in one of the three locations.

Manchester Community Music School 2291 Elm St. in Manchester; mcmusicschool.org; 644-4548. The school will offer camps for 3rd- through 12th-graders in music exploration, piano, brass, woodwind, strings, choir and guitar that run half-day (either three hours in the morning or three hours in the afternoon) for a week. Camps will run between late June and early August. Check the website for the latest information on dates and pricing and to register.

Nashua Community Music School 2 Lock St. in Nashua; 881-7030; nashuacms.org The school offers weeklong camps in July, including three camps (starting Mondays, July 8, July 15 and July 22) for ages 4 to 7 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (with an early dropoff option starting at 8 a.m. for an extra $50 per week) and three camps for ages 8 to 12 running from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Each week has a focus; for younger kids it’s “Music Around the World” (starting July 8), “Broadway Babies” (July 15) and “Latin Music Week Junior” (July 22), with the first two weeks planned to run in Greeley Park. For older kids the themes are “Broadway Week” (July 8), “Piano Camp” (July 15) and “Latin Music Week” (July 22). The school also offers classes for ages 12-17 in the evenings, 6:30 to 9 p.m., with different themes each week starting with the week of July 30 through the week of Aug. 20. Younger kid classes cost $185 per week, classes for ages 8 to 12 cost $325 per week; the evening classes cost $165 per session.

Nature & the Outdoors

Beaver Brook Nature Camps Beaver Brook Association, 117 Ridge Road in Hollis; 465-7787; beaverbrook.orgSix weeklong camps focus on different subjects related to nature and the outdoors, divided by age. Camps start the week of June 24 with offerings for kindergarteners through 6th grade. The next session is the week of July 8 and includes camp for kids in grades 7 through 9, as does the week of July 22. Registration opens March 6 for Beaver Brook members and March 8 at 8 a.m. to the public. Camps run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Concord Parks & Recreation Camp Wild The Lodge at White Park, concordparksandrec.com, 225-8690 For ages 9 to 12 years old, this camp use the City of Concord trail system to oexplore the natural sites around Concord. Camp runs July 1-5 (no camp of July 4); 9 am. to 3 p.m. The cost is $140 for Concord residents; $148 for non-residents.

Concord Parks & Recreation Nature Camp The Lodge at White Park, concordparksandrec.com , 225-8690 For ages 5 to 8 years old, this camp will feature outdoor exploration , nature based crafts and more. Camps run the week of June 24 through the week of Aug. 12, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The cost is $175 for Concord residents; $185 for non-residents.

Educational Farm at Joppa Hill 174 Joppa Hill Road in Bedford; theeducationalfarm.org; 472-4724 Eight weeklong sessions (starting the week of June 17 and running through the week of Aug. 12, no camp the week of July 1) that feature daily farm chores, nature walks, hands-on learning experiences, outdoor games, visits with the farm animals and more. Kids are grouped in ages 5-8 and ages 9-12. Camp day runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with extended day options as early as 8 a.m. and as late as 5 p.m. for an additional $75. Cost is $350.

NH Audubon nhaudubon.org Half-day (9 a.m. to noon) camps are available for ages 4 and 5 at both the Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn; 224-9909) and McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; 224-9909). Full-day camps at both locations run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and are grouped by Discovery Camp (ages 6 to 9), Explorers Camp (ages 10 to 12) and Leaders In Training (ages 13 to 15). Sessions start the week of June 24 and run through the week of Aug. 19, with each week having a focus such as “Creepy, Crawly Critters” (July 8-12) and “Wet and Wild Watersheds” (Aug. 12-16). Before care starts at 8 a.m., after care goes until 5 p.m. Cost is $220 for Wonders (the half-day camp) and Leaders In Training; $330 for Discovery and Explorers. Discounts for members.

Science & STEM

Camp Invention Southern New Hampshire Education Center, 1E Commons Drive, #28, Londonderry, snhec.org, 818-8613A STEM camp for kids entering kindergarten through 6th grade, Camp Invention offers a week-long session, July 15 through July 19, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The cost is $295. Call about Leader In Training spots for grades 7 through 9.

iDTech Camps at Southern New Hampshire University idtech.com/locations Day camps and overnight camps on the campus of Southern New Hampshire University in north Manchester offer robotics, coding, digital art, game design and more in classes grouped by age, with overall offerings from ages 7 to 17. Weeklong sessions run the week of July 8 through the week of July 29. Cost starts at $999.

LetGoYourMind letgoyourmind.com/summer-program-locations LEGO-based STEM programming in weeklong sessions for ages 4 to 13 daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at locations across New Hampshire. Offerings include Amherst (Aug. 5-9), Bedford (the weeks of June 17-21; June 24-28; July 8-12; Aug. 5-9, and Aug. 12-16), Concord (the weeks of June 24-28; July 1-3; July 8-12, and Aug. 12-16), Londonderry (weeks of July 15-19 and July 22-26), Manchester (weeks of July 29-Aug. 2 and Aug. 5-9), Nashua (July 22-26 and July 29-Aug. 2), Pelham (July 29-Aug. 2), Salem (June 24-28) and Windham (July 8-12 and July 15-19). Age groups offered differ by location and week. $390 per week

McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center 2 Institute Dr. in Concord; starhop.com; 271-7827 The Center offers seven weeklong STEM camps with three focused on more Earthbound subjects — “Discover the Dinosaurs” for ages 5 to 7 June 24-28; “The Earth We Walk On” for ages 8 to 11 July 1-3, and “Codename: Robot Camp” for ages 11 to 14 July 17-21. These camps run either 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (for ages 5-7) or 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (for older kids). $345 per week (July 1 week is $210).

Nashua Community College505 Amherst St. in Nashua; nashuacc.edu/about/for-the-public/summer-camps; 578-8979 Summer camp programs at Nashua Community College include automotive classes the weeks of July 8 and July 15; digital electronics the week of July 15 and coding the weeks of July 15 and July 22, all for 6th- through 12th-graders. Email KEckenrode@ccsnh.edu.

SEE Science Center 200 Bedford St. in Manchester; see-sciencecenter.org; 669-0400 SEE offers camps mid-July through mid-August including multiple hands-on science and STEM-related camps — “Camp Summer Science” for ages 7 to 13 July 15-19 or July 22-26; “SeaPerch Camp” for ages 11 to 14 July 15-19; “FIRST PLACE Innovation Challenge” for ages 9-14 July 22-26 or July 29-Aug. 2; “BioTrekker’s Camp” for ages 11 to 14 July 29-Aug. 2, and “iSpy Camp” for ages 8 to 13 Aug. 5-9 or Aug. 12-16. Camps run 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. $300.

STEM Summer Camps Manchester Community College, 1066 Front St. in Manchester; mccnh.edu/summer-camps STEMfocused four- and five-day sessions for students entering grades 6-8 including “Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs” July 15-19; STEM Camp July 22-25 and Robotics Camp July 29-Aug. 1. $175.

Top Secret Science & Math Summer Camp bedfordnh.myrec.com Two weeklong sessions for ages kindergarten through 5th grade at the Bedford Old Town Hall (70 Bedford Center Road) where “the kids will explore 20 weird and wacky hands-on science experiments and will make and take home all the projects. The scientists are fast-paced and funny and your kids will be thoroughly entertained (they’ll even learn some interesting things too),” according to the website. July 22-26 and July 29-Aug. 2, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $320 per week.

University of New Hampshire STEM camps unh.edu/youthprograms UNH offers science- and math-based camps, such as robotics camps (for grades 4-6 and grades 5-7; two sessions the weeks of June 24 and July 1), a mini-half-day STEM camp July 1-3 for grades 2-4, and Tech Camp for grades 5-12. Most camps are at the Durham campus, though a Tech Camp for students grades 5-12 in the Manchester School District takes place in Manchester. Cost varies by offering.

Sports

Amherst Soccer Club amherstsoccerclub.com Summer and pre-season camps have been offered in past years; check back for updates on 2024.

Athletic Camps at The Derryfield School 2108 River Road in Manchester; derryfield.org/about/summer-programs Check back for information on “Strength Conditioning” and “Magic Touch Soccer” camps. A field hockey camp led by Derryfield School’s field hockey coach Katie Bulk runs Aug. 5-7, 9 to 11 a.m., for middle and high school players (cost is $150). A basketball camp run by varsity girls coach Courtney Cheetham runs June 24-28, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Registration starts in March.

Auburn Parks & Recreation Summer Basketball Camp 483-5052; auburnparksandrec.com Coed camp for students entering grades 5 to 8 runs Monday, Aug. 12, through Friday, Aug. 16, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. $225.

The British Are Coming Summer Soccer Camp mnsl.org/soccer-camp-in-manchesterThe camp, run by Manchester North Soccer League, will take place July 29 through Aug. 2 in Livingston Park in Manchester offering soccer instruction for kids ages 5 to 15. The cost is $250 for full day, $160 for half day (with discounts for siblings).

Caramba Soccer Skills camp locations in Concord, Nashua, Canterbury and Chichester; 496-3579; soccerskillscamp.org Soccer skills and goalkeeping camps with full- and half-day options for the week of July 8 (in Mine Falls Park in Nashua) and July 15 (at Carpenter Fields in Chichester), a full-day-only camp the week of July 22 in Concord (Center Point Fields), an evening-only camp July 29-Aug. 1 at Center Point Fields in Concord, and a half-day camp July 29-Aug. 1 in Canterbury. The first three camps are open to ages 6 to 14. The last two camps are open to 2nd- through 12th-graders. Full-day camp costs $245, half-day costs $160

Challenger Sports Soccer Camps various NH locations; 800-878-2167, ext. 280; challengersports.com Camps on the schedule are often connected to the town’s parks and recreation department, ages and prices vary. So far, the schedule includes Pelham (June 24-28), Weare (July 8-12), Windham (July 15-19 and Aug. 5-9), New Boston (July 15-19), Northwood (July 15-19 and July 22-26) and Hopkinton (Aug. 12-18).

Conway Arena 5 Stadium Dr. in Nashua; 595-2400; conwayarena.com Weeklong and four-day-long hockey camps are offered starting the week of July 15 through the week of Aug. 19. Price varies according to camp. Camps the first and last week are geared toward kids age 7 to 14. The arena is also home to weekly skills classes starting as early as June 1.

Executive Health & Sports Center 1 Highlander Way in Manchester; ehsc.com/summer-camps; 668-4753 Eight themed weeklong sessions that feature swimming, sports, games, outdoor play and more. Sessions are divided by Lil’ Tikes (ages 5 and 6), Juniors (7 and 8) and Exec (9 and 10) Sessions start the week of June 17 and run through the week of Aug. 5; camps run 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, with dropoff from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and pickup 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. $349, with discounts for members and for partial weeks.

Fisher Cats Baseball & Softball Camps Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, 1 Line Drive in Manchester; 641-2005; nhfishercats.comHalf-day camps (8:30 a.m. to noon) for ages 6 to 15 that focus on stretching and warmups, throwing and catching, infield and outfield tips and drills, swing mechanics, pitching and base-running, according to the website. June 17-21; July 22, 23, 24 and 26; Aug. 19-23. Cost is $175 for the first and third weeks, $150 for the second week.

Foster’s Golf Camp Dropoff and pickup location is Derryfield Park, 581 Bridge St. in Manchester; 622-1553; fostersgolfcamp.com Campers travel to three different par-3 courses each week to participate in practice clinics and play nine holes of golf. Camp is for kids ages 7 to 16 of all abilities. Bus arrives at Derryfield Park at 7:30 a.m. and leaves at 8 a.m.; campers return at 4 p.m. Sessions are a week long and begin the week of June 17 and run through the week of Aug. 26 (no camp the week of July 1). $325 per week.

Jack Perri Basketball Camps jackperribasketballcamp.com Co-ed weeklong basketball camps for kids in grades 3 to 10 held at Southern New Hampshire University and run by Jack Perri, head coach of the SNHU men’s basketball team. The program also runs a high school showcase for grades 9 to 11 (check the website for updates). Sessions are July 8-11 and July 15-19, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $255 per child until March 1, $325 per child after March 1 (discounts for siblings).

JT Soccer Training info.abcsportscamps.com/jtsoccer A weeklong full-day camp at Penmen Stadium on the Southern New Hampshire University campus in north Manchester featuring soccer fundamentals, team play and more, for kids ages 5 to 14. July 8-12, with full day 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday or a half-day option 9 a.m. to noon daily. $225 for full-day camp, $150 for half-day with discounts for siblings and SNHU employees.

Longfellow New Hampshire Tennis & Swim Club 140 Lock St. in Nashua; 883-0153; longfellownh.comLast summer the club offered 10 weeklong sessions of Hammel Tennis Camp, with full-day and half-day options. Check back for updates on 2024.

NH Climbing & Fitness 10 Langdon Ave. in Concord; nhclimbinggym.com/camp; 715-9171 Weeklong indoor climbing camps for ages 6 to 12 start the week of June 24 and run through the week of Aug. 12, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (with early dropoff and late pickup available for an extra charge if pre-arranged). NH Adventure Camp with a mix of indoor and outdoor climbing for ages 10+ runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. those same weeks. $295 for indoor camp; $495 for Adventure Camp

NH Hoop Skills nhhoopskills.com Two weeklong (Monday through Thursday) sessions led by Karen Pinkos, head coach of the Southern New Hampshire University Women’s Basketball team, for girls in grades 2 through 10, taking place at Stan Spiro Field House on the SNHU campus in Manchester. Sessions run June 24-27 and July 29-Aug. 1, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $295 per week if you register before May 1, $325 after.

NH Hoop Skills HS Elite nhhoopskills.com Clinics for girls in grades 9 through 12, dates TBA in June and July. See the website for information.

NH Tomahawks nhtomahawks.com The Tomahawks have summer offerings for boys and girls. Half-day girls camps (for ages 5 to 17) run in Bedford at Joppa Fields (July 8-11 and July 22-25, 9 a.m. to noon) and on Back River Road (June 24-27, 9 a.m. to noon); cost is $195. Half-day boys camps run at Joppa Fields in Bedford for ages 5 to 17 June 24-27, July 8-11 and July 22-25, 9 a.m. to noon; cost is $195. There is also a league that meets weekly.

Nike Baseball Camp ussportscamps.com/baseball/nike Held at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, the camp is run by Southern New Hampshire University’s Head Coach Scott Loiseau for ages 6 to 12, grouped by age and ability. Sessions run Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 15-18 and July 22-25, with check-in 30 minutes before start time. $365 per session.

Nike Basketball Camps Locations in Manchester, Nashua and Hampton, 800-645-3226, ussportscamps.com/basketball/nike In Manchester, four weeklong sessions of the camp take place at Saint Anselm College the weeks of June 24, July 8, July 15, July 22 and July 29, running 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Fridays. In Concord, the camps take place at Capital City Sports & Fitness the weeks of July 15 and Aug. 5, running 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon with a half-option throughout the weeks. In Derry, the camp is at SportsZone; check back for dates and times.

Paul Hogan Basketball Camp hogancamps.com Basketball camps held at NHTI in Concord including three-day camps for point guards and post players in grades 5 through 12; four-day Rip City Basketball Camps that “provide advanced individual offensive and defensive instruction” for grades 4 through 10; Shooter’s Gold Basketball Camp (taking place in multiple locations including Bow July 8-11) for kids in grade 1-4 (from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and grades 5 to 8 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), and Specialty Basketball Camp for grades 5 to 12 July 28-Aug. 1. Prices vary based on camps.

Seacoast United Soccer seacoastunited.com Seacoast camps held in New Hampshire include in Epping (full- and half-day camps the week of June 24 for 6-14 and 8 to 15 goalkeeper; half-day goalkeeper the week of July 15; full and half days the week of July 29 Bedford (full day the weeks of June 24 and July 17, full and half days for the week of July 29, for ages 6 to 14). Prices vary by camp.

University of New Hampshire summer sports camps unh.edu/youthprograms UNH hosts camps (both day and overnight) related to basketball (a boys and a girls camp), field hockey, football evening camp, gymnastics camp, girls ice hockey, Wildcat Hockey School, girls soccer, track and field, volleyball camp, boys soccer and girls lacrosse. See the website for details and availability.

Theater

Bedford Youth Performing Company 155 Route 101 in Bedford; bypc.org; 472-3894BYPC’s summer theater offerings include Jungle Book Kids musical theater production camp (June 24-28, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., for kindergarten through 4th grade; $325), Little Mermaid Jr. musical theater production camp (June 24-28, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., for grades 5 to 9; $325), Seussical the Musical Kids Musical Theater Production camp (Aug. 5-9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., for kindergarten through 4th grade; $325), and Alice in Wonderland Jr. Kids Musical Theater Production camp (Aug. 5-9, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., for grades 5 to 9; $325).

Community Players of Concord 435 Josiah Bartlett Road in Concord; communityplayersofconcord.org A one-week musical theater camp that would run Sunday through Friday in August at the Community Players Studio and then culminate in a camp show at the Concord City Auditorium for kids ages 8 to 14. Check the website in early April for camp information or subscribe to the Players’ monthly newsletter.

Derryfield Repertory Theatre The Derryfield School, 2108 River Road in Manchester; derryfield.org/about/summer-programs Two two-week sessions where campers, grouped by age, learn improvisation, acting, singing, scriptwriting and dancing and are in productions of junior versions of We Are Monsters, Shrek The Musical, Rock of Ages, 101 Dalmatians, Finding Nemo and Legally Blonde The Musical Rising 4th- through 12th-graders Sessions are July 8-19 and July 22-Aug 2, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $660 per session, includes lunch; discounts for siblings of multiple sessions.

Kids Coop Theatre Londonderry; admin@kids-coop-theatre.org, kids-cooptheatre.org A two-week session July 8-19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is open to ages 7 to 13. Show title is TBA. $550.

Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts 880 Page St. in Manchester; majestictheatre.net; 669-7469 Themed half-day weeklong camps for ages 5 to 7 and full-day week- and two-week-long camps for ages 8 to 14. Camps teach acting, movement, improvisation, music and other aspects of theater. Half-day camps include Green Eggs & Ham (stories and songs of Dr. Seuss; June 24-29) and Video Zone (July 15-20); full-day camps include “Imagine a Dragon” (July 8-13) and “Kokonut Island” (July 22-Aug. 3). Showcases are held on the Saturdays at the end of each camp. $160 for half-day camps; $225 for full-day camp, $325 for two-week full-day camp.

Merrimack Summer Stage Theater Program merrimackparksandrec.org This weeklong program for ages 8 to 15 takes place at the Wasserman Park Theatre July 15-19 and culminates in a production of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians Kids. Camp runs 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. $285 for Merrimack residents, $295 for nonresidents.

Palace Youth Theatre Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org/pyt Weeklong and two-week camps focus on a particular production, with performances at the end of the sessions. Camps start with a two-week session on June 24 and alternate two and one weeks with the final camp a one-week session Aug. 19. The camps are open to grades 2 through 12 and run Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Two-week camps cost $599, one-week camps cost $299.

Peacock Players 14 Court St. in Nashua; 886-7000; peacockplayers.orgFive weeklong sessions each on a theme for grades 1 to 9 — Legendary Composers (July 15-19), Getting Spooky (July 22-26), All About the Mouse (July 29-Aug. 2), Rock & Roll Week (Aug. 5-9) and Hollywood Week (Aug. 12-16). 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (pickup is 4 to 5 p.m.). $350.

Triple Threat Theater Camp Londonderry Dance Academy, 21 Buttrick Road in Londonderry; 432-0032; londonderrydance.com A Triple Threat Film Camp for ages 7 to 17 runs June 24-28, 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Triple Threat Theater Camp for ages 6 to 17 runs July 8-26, 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. A Triple Threat Theater Camp Jr. for ages 5.5 through 9 runs July 8-12 and July 15-19, 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. The weeklong camps cost $325 per week; the three-week camp costs $850.

University of New Hampshire Theatre & Dance Stars unh.edu/youthprograms UNH offers a theater camp July 8-12 for grades 3 through 12, divided in different sessions by age, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as well as a camp from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for grades 1 through 3. A camp for grades 5 to 12 runs July 15-19 runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Full-day camps cost $400, half day is $250.

Madame Web (PG-13)

A paramedic briefly dies, which somehow kickstarts her ability to see into the future, in Madame Web, one of those Sony Marvel joints.

As you may have heard, Constance Webb (Kerry Bishé) was researching spiders in the Amazon in 1973 when she gave birth to a daughter and then immediately died.

Years later (2003), Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson) is an EMT in Queens. She is a loner who doesn’t know how to deal with people in general and maybe men and children specifically. When her EMT partner Ben (Adam Scott) tells her he’s met someone, there’s maybe an undercurrent that there was something between them once? Between Ben, excuse me, BEN and Cassie? What’s BEN’s new girlfriend’s name? We don’t learn that, nor do we learn the name of BEN’s brother (Richard) and sister-in-law’s (Mary) soon-to-be-born child, one who would make BEN an UNCLE who lives in QUEENS. The movie nudge-nudge-wink-winks at this whole storyline so hard and says BEN so many times you think the Spidey of it all is going to matter but it doesn’t.

Anyway, it is BEN who pulls Cassie from the water when she accidentally falls into the river while making a rescue. He resuscitates her and strongly suggests she see a doctor but she doesn’t take this suggestion until after she experiences some very strong premonitions. Premonitions that include seeing a friend killed in a car crash moments before it happens for real.

There’s nothing medically wrong with her — maybe it’s a combination of a response to the trauma of dying and the grief over her friend? She boards the train to head to his funeral and finds herself in a train car with Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor), three teen girls who don’t know each other and just randomly happen to be on that train.

To Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), these three girls aren’t just random passengers but members of the superpower-having trio that will one day murder him. You see, he was also “in the Amazon with my mom” and secretly a bad guy looking for the same spider with powerful healing properties that Constance was. Yada yada (the movie glosses over the how and why here) and now he has super strength and can walk on walls, not unlike Las Arañas, a Peruvian-Amazon-based group of vigilantes who found and attempted to save Constance after Ezekiel shot her and helped bring baby Cassie into the world.

Anyway, Ezekiel shows up at the train, ready to kill the teens before they can become superpowered women. But Cassie sees his attack from a few angles before it happens, enough that she is able to get the girls off the train. They understandably have questions: who is this crazy lady, why is she dragging them off the train, who is that guy in a head-to-toe latex suit, and why can he crawl upside down along the ceiling?

Cassie also has questions, like why she can see the future and why she is suddenly the one to help these girls. Maybe it has to do with learning to take this RESPONSIBILITY, which could give her access to a GREAT POWER she’s had all along.

Madame Web isn’t a terrible concept on its face. I don’t have any background with this character but who she is and who she becomes by the end of the movie is fine story material to work with — even if she feels like a variant on other Marvel and DC characters. But the movie is goopy, goopy like children’s play slime, goopyness that has somehow been taped together into the shape of a movie, and is just not good — not smart, not fun, not even “ha that’s something” the way parts of the Venom movies can be. I recently attempted making a dessert that was clearly going sideways about halfway through the baking process. “I don’t know, maybe more sugar here? Maybe some jam there?” The result wasn’t inedible but it was definitely not what I intended. And thus with Madame Web, a movie that needed different ingredients (or ingredients in different amounts) and a different method.

Dakota Johnson is OK — not great but nearly adequate and I think with better dialogue she could have bumped it up to good. Johnson’s style of emotionally closed off roboticism kind of works with who her character is. The three teen girls are also fine, though the movie could have used more of them and I think would have been better if it had let their characters develop beyond the basics of their exposition and let their relationship with each other develop as well.

Rahim as Ezekiel didn’t work for me at all — he is a flat, uninteresting villain whose whole persona and motivation feels extremely underwritten.

Unlike the “there are things here to work with” story and characters, the visual effects and overall look of this movie are quite bad. There is not an action scene, a chase or a fight that doesn’t look cheap and unfinished, like we’re seeing the storyboard sketch of what should be happening instead of a finished product. I found myself wondering how this movie would be different if it had kept its effects practical instead of computer-generated and confined itself to Queens-ish locales.

Madame Web does give the appearance of being a self-contained thing — there is no post-credits sequence here, even though all of us in the theater stayed waiting for one. But I wish the movie had really gone for broke with how it told its story and not left ends flapping like it was hoping for a sequel. C-

Rated PG-13 for violence/action and language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by S.J. Clarkson with a screenplay by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless and Claire Parker & S.J. Clarkson, Madame Web is an hour and 57 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Columbia Pictures.

The Zone of Interest (PG-13)

A husband, a wife and their five children enjoy an idyllic-seeming life in a house with a large garden, situated by a scenic forest and also jammed up next to the horrors of Auschwitz, in The Zone of Interest, a fascinating movie rightly nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

We first see Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), Nazi SS officer and Auschwitz concentration camp commandant, and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller, turning in one of two great Best Picture performances for this year — the other is in Anatomy of a Fall, for which she also has an acting nod) and their kids swimming in a river and generally enjoying the outdoors. They return to their house and we see Höss checking doors and turning off lights as his family goes to bed, but the walls in the garden on the side of his house have barbed wire on top and behind them we can hear gunshots, screams and barking dogs.

This hellishness is all around them all the time, literally in the air that they breathe, as we constantly see smoke from crematoriums filling the sky. When Höss arrives home, he takes his boots off outside and one of the prisoners working at his house washes them, letting us briefly see the blood running off them. Neither Höss nor Hedwig seems blind to the vast human misery or compartmentalizing it away from their daily thoughts. (Being more efficient with murder is literally Höss’ job.) They are perfectly fine with what’s happening — proud of themselves, even, for building such a life.

Hedwig seems pretty happy to swan around this house with a pool and a well-tended garden, full of what she seems to think of as domestic help — if not people held captive at the camps then people from the countryside who seem to have little say in their presence there or what they do. Hedwig knows full well about the constant murder surrounding her and seems mostly just delighted with its perks. She happily receives a bag of silky lingerie that she and the women who work in her house pick through as well as an elegant fur coat brought just for her, complete with its rightful owner’s lipstick still in a pocket. She brags about being called the queen of Auschwitz, and when her mother comes to visit they have an indifferent chat about a Jewish woman her mother once knew who might be held there. The mother had tried but failed to buy the woman’s curtains when they were auctioned off after her family was deported; losing the curtains clearly troubles her more than what might have happened to the woman. Meanwhile, Hedwig’s oldest son plays with teeth and gold fillings as casually as his younger brother plays with toy soldiers.

It’s not particularly original to say that the monstrousness of everything we see is underlined by how banal the day-to-day lives of these family members are — Höss’ meetings with other SS officers, the department politics that have him sent to another camp for a while, the marital politics that have Hedwig demanding to stay at Auschwitz so their children can continue having this “good life.” The skill of the movie is that it never lets us forget what we’re experiencing — nearly every scene has smoke, distant screams, gunshots, prisoners, ashes — but it doesn’t need to dramatize it in some big way. The bare facts and tiny details of what’s happening are horrible enough without any embellishment and the Höss family’s “shrug, but of course” attitude really drives home how easily they don’t just accept but embrace every atrocious thing happening around them.

There is one moment when the movie pulls back and suggests that Rudolf Höss is fully aware of how enormous the evil he is a part of is. But that stretch, rather brilliantly, sets itself against matter-of-fact domestic work — women in the present day at the Auschwitz museum diligently clean the glass behind which sit massive piles of shoes and luggage representing the million-plus people murdered there. The scene feels as much like a warning for how easily such a horror can be put behind glass as it is an indictment of the people who committed these crimes.

The Zone of Interest isn’t fun movie times, obviously, but it isn’t homework either. It’s a fascinating character study that smartly sets the ordinary against the horrific. A

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some suggestive material and smoking, according to the MPA at filmratings.com. Directed by Jonathan Glazer with a screenplay by Glazer (based loosely on the book by Martin Amis),The Zone of Interest is an hour and 45 minutes long and distributed in theaters by A24. It is slated to be released on VOD on Feb. 20.

Featured photo: Lisa Frankenstein.

Lisa Frankenstein (PG-13)

A 1980s teen, like, totally grieving for her deceased mother while everybody, even her father, has moved on, finds a friend in a long dead, suddenly reanimated floopy-haired boy who looks good in a Violent Femmes shirt in Lisa Frankenstein, a movie written by Diablo Cody and directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin).

Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is the new kid in school, in this her senior year, because she and her dad (Joe Chrest) have moved in with his new wife Janet (Carla Gugino) and her teen daughter Taffy (Liza Soberano). Lisa was already deeply traumatized by her mother’s death — at the hands of a serial killer while Lisa hid in a nearby closet, according to Taffy — and seems further traumatized by her father’s remarrying within months and then moving them to a new town. Lisa barely speaks and doesn’t socialize much despite popular Taffy’s genuine and basically good-hearted attempts to pull her out into high school society.

Lisa does allow herself to be dragged to a party where she sees Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry), head of the high school’s literary magazine, who she is crushing on. Attempts to flirt with him get sidetracked by Tamara (Joey Bree Harris), a gothy girl clearly also crushing on Mike. Tamara sarcastically offers Lisa her drink and Lisa, to prove she’s not the quiet shut-in everyone thinks she is, takes a big swig of it. Unfortunately, it’s a weird high school “wine punch”-or-something drink and she immediately finds herself drunk or high or maybe both. After some puking and dodging a boy who tries to get nonconsensual, Lisa runs out of the party and into a nearby overgrown graveyard.

Luckily, Lisa is familiar with Bachelor Grove Graveyard — she often hangs out there taking rubbings of the headstones and doing other sad-girl things. She even has a favorite headstone, the headstone of a man (the only part of his name we can see is the “ein” end of his last name) whose monument includes a bust with his sad pale face.

As we learned in the movie’s opening shadow-puppet credits, this man was an old-timey unmarried guy who played piano and fell in love with a woman who left him for what I think was a mandolin player. He mopes around and is later killed by a lightning strike.

In the present (late 1980s) day, as Lisa is stumbling around the graveyard, she finds his grave. She had given him her mother’s rosary and as she contemplates her crappy night she makes a wish that she could be with him. Meaning, as she later explains, that she wishes she could be six feet under. But the universe and a mysterious green lightning strike takes it the other way and sends the somewhat decomposed and missing-some-parts man, listed in IMDb as The Creature (Cole Sprouse), back above ground.

The next evening, as Lisa watches a scary movie, the Creature comes stumbling and moaning into her house. She is at first all screaming and running and throwing horrible Janet’s horrible Precious Moments figurines at him. But then she figures out who he is — thanks to a grave rubbing and some pointing (a tongue is one of the parts the Creature is missing). She gets him to take a shower and to keep the crying to a minimum — his tears smell like a hot carnival toilet, she says — and change clothes, eventually finding the kind of blazer-and-band-shirt combo you could picture on a John Cusack character of the same vintage. The Creature becomes someone she can talk to about her feelings and her crush on Michael. He is so nice that when he semi-accidentally kills Janet, Lisa helps him bury Janet’s body and sew Janet’s ear on to the spot where one of his ears has gone missing. At first it doesn’t fully become a part of him but then Lisa remembers Taffy’s malfunctioning tanning bed that electrocutes everybody who uses it.

As the Creature continues to replace his missing parts, he also helps Lisa improve her fashion sense, going from “clothes that make you invisible” to “late 1980s Winona Ryder character at the prom.” He also gets hotter every time he electrocutes himself, going from “obviously undead” to “lightly made-up goth boy.”

There’s a lot here in this emo rom-com with a Heathers throwback vibe that reaches the level of “cute” or even “sorta funny” and there is a genuine human relationship between Lisa and Taffy that you could really build something on. The movie sets a tone that had me willing to go along with whatever silliness it wanted to give me. But, unlike the Creature, this thing never quite zapped to life for me, the nostalgic setting and classic horror movie allusions and extreme examples of crimped hair just didn’t pull together into something that was more than what you get just by hearing the phrase “Diablo Cody writes an ’80s set horror comedy love teen story.” There is a sharpness missing in the comedy or in the romance or somewhere in the mix of this movie that would elevate it from just a throwback curio.

Even though I’d place this movie at around a C+ I’m ultimately not sorry I watched it and, when it is inevitably available for streaming at home, I suspect it will feel like a passable B-.

Rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, sexual material, language, sexual assault, teen drinking and drug content, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Zelda Williams with a screenplay by Diablo Cody, Lisa Frankenstein is an hour and 41 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Focus Features.

Featured photo: Lisa Frankenstein.

63 for Free

Completely, totally, mostly free and free-ish fun things to do, see and enjoy

Library, more like “free-brary”

Libraries are the kings of free fun.

  1. Your local library of course offers books, magazines, graphic novels, audiobooks and other physical media free for you to borrow with only your library card, which usually requires just proof of residency (or employment in that town, if you want to load up on library memberships) like a bill or your driver’s license (some area libraries also specifically ask that you bring a photo ID). But those aren’t the only free offerings.

2. Ebooks and e-audiobooks are available, along with magazines, newspapers and more, via apps such as Libby, Overdrive and Hoopla, which are accessible once you get your library card. Depending on the app, you can check out a specific number of titles per month or at a time. Instructions on your library’s website explain how to get the title onto your device.

3. Kanopy membership is another perk offered by area libraries. A streaming service for movies and TV shows, Kanopy is a solid service for movie fans, with a selection that includes wide- and more limited-release feature films, documentaries, world cinema and relatively recent releases, such as 2023’s Beau Is Afraid and Kelly Reichhardt’s Showing Up, as well as last year’s Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once. There is also currently a whole tab of A24 movies. The movies cost two tickets each to watch (for example, Bedford Library patrons get 16 tickets per month). You can watch a Great Courses class (a “Cooking Through the Ages” class costs five tickets) or a TV show (Series 1 of Luther costs four tickets).

4. In addition to things to watch and read, many local libraries also lend stuff. The Library of Thingsat the Concord Public Library (concordpubliclibrary.net) includes a ukulele, a ghost meter, a karaoke machine, a telescope and a pickleball set. The Bedford Public Library’s (bedfordnhlibrary.org) Library of Things includes a portable projector and portable screen, binoculars and more. The Manchester City Library (manchester.lib.nh.us) has telescopes, framed prints and Playaway Launchpads. Borrow an XBox, an electric guitar, night vision binoculars or the board game Exploding Kittens via the Merrimack Public Library (merrimacklibrary.org). Check out a Game of Thrones board game, a virtual reality headset or a bird-watching set at the Kelley Library in Salem (kelleylibrary.org). Like several other local libraries, the Nashua Public Library (nashualibrary.org) has a Puzzle Exchange, where you can leave a puzzle, take a puzzle.

5. Stuff also includes seeds — many area libraries have a Seed Library to help you plan and plant your garden. “Check out” seeds for veggies, herbs and other plants and get instructions on how to collect and return the seeds from that plant after the growing season. Area libraries offering seed libraries and exchanges include Goffstown Public Library (goffstownlibrary.com), Bedford Public Library, the Smyth Public Library in Candia (smythpl.org), Nashua Public Library, Manchester City Library, and the Wadleigh Memorial Library in Milford (wadleighlibrary.org).

6. And take a day trip to an area cultural site with the museum passes available to cardholders at pretty much all area libraries. What admissions are free and what admissions may be discounted vary by museum: For example, via the Griffin Free Public Library in Auburn (griffinfree.org), passes for the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire and the McAuliffe Shepard Discovery Center get you up to four free admissions for those locations, while the pass for the Currier Museum of Art gets you half off two adult and all youth admissions. The list of participating museums varies by libraries but often includes Boston attractions as well as New Hampshire sites.

7. As with the “libraries offer books” example, it might seem obvious to mention all the events at area libraries but it’s more than just storytimes for kids and book clubs (though pretty much all libraries do have those and the storytimes are often specific to certain ages, offering entertainment specifically geared toward, say, the youngest toddler or the wiggliest preschooler). Among the offerings: JerriAnne Boggis, executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, discusses the Trail and African American history in Concord Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. at the Concord Public Library (concordpubliclibrary.net); Nashua Public Library will screen Blazing Saddles on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 1:30 p.m., and the Manchester City Library (manchester.lib.nh.us) offers an evening with romance authors Ali Hazelwood, Nikki Payne and Denise Williams via Zoom on Monday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m.

8. You can even hold a book club, board game night or kid graphic novel club of your own at your library by using one of their meeting rooms. The rooms are often free to reserve (which you can do at many libraries online).

Arts & culture for free

Enjoy the experience of checking out some locally created and/or visual or performing arts — and then support it with donations or by purchasing works.

9. The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester (currier.org) offers free admission on the Second Saturday of each month to New Hampshire residents — the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Active-duty military and their families and veterans can also get free admission any time (Currier also has special offers for free or discounted admission for members of certain associations and for faculty, staff and students at some area colleges; see the website).

10. You can also go in depth on Currier collections and exhibitions from home on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. as part of “Art Conversations From Home.” The 30-minute Zoom registrations are free, though registration is required.

You can also check out the exhibitions in area art galleries, many of which have public hours and often hold artist receptions near the beginning of the show. Current shows include:

11. All Heart Statuses,” an exhibition featuring works with a variety of approaches to love and emotion, on display at the Mosaic Art Collective in Manchester (mosaicartcollective.com) through Wednesday, Feb. 28. The gallery is open Wednesday through Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. See Michael Witthaus’ story about the exhibition in the Feb. 8 issue of the Hippo.

12. “Nature in Focus: Image of Flora, Fauna and Landscapes of New England” at the McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; nhaudubon.org) Friday, March 8. The show features nature photography by Bob Fleck, a New Hampshire author and photographer, according to a press release. Visit the exhibition Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

13. “Blossoming Beyond,an exhibition that “showcases work that embodies the resilience, strength and beauty of both the natural world and the LGBTQ+ community,” according to queerlective.com, at the New Hampshire Audubon Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn). The exhibit will be on display through Saturday, March 30; visit Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

14. Artists Brenda McDonald, Seth Dewey, Craig Michaud and Dan Splaine have works on display at the Sandy Cleary Community Art Gallery at the Nashua Center for the Arts (nashuacenterforthearts.com) through the end of March.

15. The works of Susan Rock, including pieces about Abraham Lincoln, are on display at Two Villages Art Society (Bates Building, 846 Main St. in Hopkinton; twovillagesart.org) through Saturday, March 2. The gallery is open Thursdays through Sundays, from noon to 4 p.m.

16. Check out the League of NH Craftsmen galleries in Concord (open Monday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Nashua (open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) for fine crafts by juried members on display (and available for purchase). See nhcrafts.org.

17. See the sculptures created as part of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium installed at locations around the Gate City. Find a map to all the pieces at nashuasculpturesymposium.org, where you can get information about each of the sculptures.

18. Art and nature meet at the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline (andresinstitute.org), where more than 100 sculptures are positioned on the institute’s 140 acres, which are open daily from dawn to dusk and are free (donations accepted). Find maps to the trails, which include which sculptures you’ll find where, on the website, where you can also see the art and get information on the artists.

19. Take a drive, then take a stroll for some art. The Portsmouth downtown area hosts the Art ’Round Town gallery walk on the first Friday of every month from 5 to 8 p.m. (14 Market Square). Explore the art scene in this creative historical community by visiting different art galleries downtown. Visit artroundtown.org.

20. In Exeter, it’s the 2nd Friday Art Walk 5 to 7 p.m. — see the exhibits at the Seacoast Artists Association (seacoastartist.org), Foundation Art Space (teamexeter.com/foundation-art-space.html) and more. See teamexeter.com.

21. The Walker Lecture Series offers music, performances, lectures and more for free at the Concord City Auditorium (theaudi.org/events). Upcoming events include the Freese Brothers Big Band on Wednesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m.; Man on the Hill, described as a two-act performance that mixes music and story, on Wednesday, March 13, at 7 p.m. and “Exotic and Tropical Asia, a Travelogue with Marlin Darrah” on Wednesday, March 20, at 7 p.m.

22. The Bach’s Lunch series at the Concord Community Music School (ccmusicschool.org) offers quick free concerts, usually 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. Next up is “A Mountain in Miniature: Exploring the Irish Musical Tradition through the Lens of a Single Tune” on Thursday, March 7.

23. The Concord Community Music School also hosts regular student recitals, which are free to attend. Next on the schedule is the Integrated Arts recital on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. where participants can display visual art they’ve created during their musical performances, according to the website.

24. The Manchester Community Music School regularly hosts free faculty concerts (online registration is required; there is also a virtual attendance option). Next up is a tribute to Nat King Cole on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m. Visit mcmusicschool.org.

25. The Nashua Community Music School (nashuacms.org/recitals) has student recitals that are free and open to the public. Next up are recitals on Friday, March 22, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, March 23, with times at 2, 4 and 6 p.m.

26. The New Hampshire Historical Society offers free events, most at its 30 Park St. location in Concord (though some are held elsewhere). Upcoming events include the lecture “Late in Arriving: How Electricity Changed Rural New Hampshire” by Steve Taylor on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m.; a book talk by Alan Rumrill about his Monadnock Originals on Saturday, March 9, at 2 p.m., and a free family fun day on Saturday, March 16, from 2 to 4 p.m. that will feature games, crafts, storytelling and more, according to nhhistory.org.

27. New Hampshire Humanities holds a variety of events — book talks, history lectures, musical performances and more — some of which are in person at locations across the state, some virtual and a few hybrid. Upcoming events include “Liberty Is Our Motto!: Songs and Stories of the Hutchinson Family Singers” with Steve Blunt portraying a mid-19th century entertainer on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. at the Canterbury Town Hall; “Songs of Old New Hampshire” presented by Jeff Warner at the Hooksett Public Library on Friday, Feb. 16, at 11 a.m., and “Banjos, Bones & Ballads” also presented by Warner on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 11 a.m. Some events require pre-registration; see nhhumanities.org/programs.

28. Slam Free or Die, an ongoing poetry open mic and slam series, takes place every Thursday night at Stark Brewing Co. in Manchester. Follow them on Facebook @slamfreeordie for updates on upcoming events and appearances.

29. The Poetry Society of New Hampshire holds regular readings, usually the third Wednesday of each month, at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord (gibsonsbookstore.com) often with an open mic following reading by a published poet. Next up is Chard deNiord at the event on Wednesday, Feb. 21, from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

30. Gibson’s Bookstore also holds regular in-store author events that are free — though you can upgrade the experience by buying the author’s book and getting it signed. Next up are Margo Cooper to discuss Deep Inside the Blues: Photographs and Interviews (Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6:30 p.m.) and Leila Philip to discuss Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America(Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m). See gibsonsbookstore.com for the calendar and to sign up for their newsletter.

31. Balin Books in Nashua (balinbooks.com) regularly offers author events. Next on the schedule is Civics 101 podcasters Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice to discuss their book A User’s Guide to Democracy on Saturday, March 9, at 2 p.m.

32. Bookery Manchester (bookerymht.com) has a schedule full of author events including upcoming events with Michaela Horan to discuss Rolling Hills and the Sword of Avalon (Saturday, Feb. 17, at 1 p.m.); Fox Hollow to discuss Heart Strings (Sunday, Feb. 18, at 3 p.m.) and Midge Goldberg, editor of Outer Space: 100 Poems (Friday, March 15, at 5:30 p.m.). Bookery will also host NAV Arts writers open mic on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 5 p.m.

Free in the outdoors

Walking outside your door is free — but what if you’re looking for some more specific outdoor adventures?

33. The network of more than 35 miles of trails at Beaver Brook Association in Hollis (beaverbrook.org) is free and open to the public daily from dawn to dusk. Find trail maps, including to accessible trails, on the website.

34. Another stop at Beaver Brook is Maple Hill Gardens (at the 117 Ridge Road in Hollis location). The 13 themed gardens are also free and open for daily viewing, with the best season for viewing April through October, according to the website, which also said there is a natural play area, a demonstration compost court, picnic areas and a wildflower trail.

35. The New Hampshire Audubon manages 39 wildlife sanctuaries throughout the state that are free to visit and open to the public. See nhaudubon.org/lands/sanctuaries for a list of the sanctuaries, many of which, such as the Massabesic Center/Battery Point Wildlife Sanctuary in Auburn and the Ponemah Bog in Amherst, have links to trail guides, maps, birding tips and more.

36. The Manchester Cedar Swamp (nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/manchester-cedar-swamp-preserve) offers free dawn-to-dusk trails of 1.8 miles that are universally accessible including to people using wheelchairs, strollers and other adaptive devices according to the website, where you can find a trail map and more.

City parks offer spots for picnics, playtime and other recreation. A few to check out:

37. Mine Falls Park features trails from roughly a third of a mile to nearly 3 miles; see nashuanh.gov/491/Mine-Falls-Park for a map.

38. Stark Park in north Manchester features a “Walk in the Woods” trail network, an outdoor nature playspace and more; see starkpark.com.

39. Livingston Park (manchesternh.gov) is a 131-acre park in north Manchester that features a playground, a summertime swimming pool, sports fields and facilities, and walking trails around Dorrs Pond, according to the website.

40. White Park in Concord features the Monkey Around Playground, a seasonal splash pad, basketball courts, an ice skating rink (weather permitting), walking trails and more, according to concordnh.gov.

41. Watson Park in Merrimack offers a gaga pit, picnic spots, a butterfly garden and ice skating (weather permitting); see merrimackparksandrec.org.

42. The Educational Farm at Joppa Hill in Bedford (theeducationalfarm.org) is free to visit daily, dusk till dawn, and features hiking, walking and cross country skiing trails (see maps on the website) as well as farm animals to visit. Upgrade the experience by purchasing $5 grain cups or by doing some shopping at the farm stand.

43. Get state park admission for free — sort of.In this case “free” is going to cost you about $93. For an annual $85, plus a one-time $8 new license plate fee, you can get a New Hampshire State Park license plate for your car. The revenues from the plate go to the State Parks Fund, which helps pay for the operation of the parks, according to nhstateparks.org. The plates (with a current registration) get you free admission to more than two dozen state parks, including Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown, Pawtuckaway State Park in Nottingham and Wallis Sands State Park in Rye. See nhstateparks.org for details.

44. The New Hampshire Astronomical Society goes everywhere and they bring their telescopes. Check out their calendar (nhastro.com/calendar.php) to find a spot where you can meet up, talk telescopes and sky watching and get a look at the stars. Upcoming public appearances include a “sidewalk astronomy” session in Portsmouth on Saturday, Feb. 17, from 5 to 10 p.m. in Market Square; their monthly first Friday skywatch at the McAuliffe Shepard Discovery Center in Concord on Friday, March 1, from 7 to 10 p.m., and a skywatch at Benedictine Park in Bedford on Monday, March 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. The Society is also holding presentations on the April eclipse at several area libraries, including Whipple Hall in New London (Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 5 p.m.), Kelley Library in Salem (Monday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m.), Baker Free Library in Bow (Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m.), the Concord Public Library (Tuesday, March 5, at 6 p.m.), Whipple Free Library in New Boston (Thursday, March 7, at 6 p.m.) and the Goffstown library (Tuesday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m.), as well as several more libraries in March.

45. Take the NH Rail Trails Challenge! Run, bike, walk, rollerblade or otherwise explore the state’s rail trails — there are 43 of them currently — in whatever time frame or increments you’d like and then complete a form at nhrtc.org. Bragging rights are free; $10 gets you a patch to point to whilst bragging. Find out more about the challenge at an upcoming Bike Talk held by the New Hampshire Rail Trails Coalition on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. via Zoom; find the link to register via the group’s Facebook page.

Free fun & free games

Here are some sports, family attractions and more free happenings.

46. Enjoy a free(-ish) movie at Chunky’s Cinema Pubs in Manchester, Nashua and Pelham with the monthly Little Lunch Date screenings of kid-friendly films in a kid-friendly screening room (lights not as dim, noise and squirming to be expected). The movies don’t have an admission per se, though you reserve a seat by buying $5 food vouchers to be used at the movie (there is also a $1.25 service fee per ticket when purchased online). Next up is 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet (PG) on Friday, Feb. 16, at 3:45 p.m.

47. Head to winter farmers markets for some free browsing and hobnobbing with local farmers and producers (and in some cases live music) and then upgrade the experience by buying treats for now and treats for later. The Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market (downtownconcordwinterfarmersmarket.com) runs Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon at 7 Eagle Square; on Saturday, Feb. 17, musician Joel Begin performers. The Contoocook Farmers Market (find them on Facebook) spends its winters at the Maple Street School on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon; on Saturday, Feb. 17, Ryan Williamson performs. The Milford Indoor Farmers Market (milfordnhfarmersmarket.com) is open for two more Saturdays — Feb. 24 and March 9 — from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Milford Town Hall Auditorium on the Oval. The Salem New Hampshire Farmers Market (salemnhfarmersmarket.org) spends winters at LaBelle Winery in Derry (14 Route 111) on Sundays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

48. Regular season Southern New Hampshire University basketball games are free to attend and both Penmen women’s and men’s teams have three home games left — Saturday, Feb. 17, (1:30 p.m. women, 3:30 p.m. men) against Pace University; Saturday, Feb. 24 (1:30 p.m. women, 3:30 p.m. men) against Assumption University and Tuesday, Feb. 27, (5:30 p.m. women, 7:30 p.m. men) against the College of Saint Rose. The games take place at Stan Spiro Field House (at the Southern New Hampshire University campus, 2500 River Road in Manchester). See snhupenmen.com.

49. Meanwhile, lacrosse season is starting for the SNHU Penmen. The men’s team has a home game against Molloy University scheduled Saturday, Feb. 17, at noon at Mark A. Ouellette Stadium on the SNHU campus (the stadium is on Victory Lane in Hooksett). The women’s first home game is Saturday, March 16, at 1 p.m. versus Presbyterian College. Regular season games are free to attend; see snhupenmen.com for the schedule.

50. Lacrosse season is also starting at Rivier College in Nashua, with the Rivier Raiders men’s lacrosse team playing UMass Boston Saturday, Feb. 17, at noon, on Joanne Merrill Field at Linda Robinson Pavilion. The men will also face Curry College in the home game on Saturday, Feb. 24, at noon. The women will play Saint Joseph on Saturday, March 9, at noon. The games are free to attend. See rivierathletics.com.

51. And then it’s baseball and softball season. The SNHU Penmen baseball team plays a home game against the Saint Anselm Hawks at Penmen Field on Wednesday, March 27, at 3 p.m. The women’s softball team will play a doubleheader against Mercy University at home on Saturday, March 23, with games at noon and 2 p.m. at the SNHU Softball Field (on Eastman Drive). The women will then play American International College on Sunday, March 24, at noon and 2 p.m. See snhupenmen.com for the schedule.

52. The first home game for Rivier Raiders men’s baseball will be Sunday, March 30, when they play a doubleheader against Norwich at noon and 3 p.m. at Historic Holman Stadium (67 Amherst St. in Nashua). The women’s softball team plays at Raider Diamond and their first home game will be against Fitchburg State on Saturday, March 23, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Games are free to attend. See rivierathletics.com.

53. Get lessons in all things maple — from the sap gathering and syrup making process to a sample of the finished product — at area sugarhouses during Maple Weekend, this year scheduled for Saturday, March 16, and Sunday, March 17. Check with nhmapleproducers.com for a listing of sugarhouses, many of whom offer samples of maple syrup and maple products as well as tours and more. And of course upgrade the experience by purchasing some fresh local maple syrup.

Save the date for “free”

There are actually a fair number of free events throughout the year, from the music and movies presented in parks to the town holiday celebrations and parades in December. Here are a few free happenings coming up in the next few months.

54. Merrimack’s Winter Carnival takes place Saturday, Feb. 24, from noon to 3 p.m. at Wasserman Park. This free event features games and activities including, at 1 p.m., the cardboard box sledding competition. See merrimackparksandrec.org.

55. Tickets are free for the upcoming Sing-Along Piano Bar nights at the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m.; Sunday, March 24, at 6 p.m., and Sunday, April 28, at 6 p.m. Tickets are also free to the Rockstar Karaoke night on Saturday, May 11, at 7 p.m. See the website for details on these events.

56. Get an up close look at the making of kombucha at a tour of Auspicious Brew in Dover, billed as the first licensed kombucha brewery in New Hampshire, on Monday, Feb. 26, at 6:30 p.m. Register at dovernh.assabetinteractive.com.

57. Check out the installation of a “graffiti fiber art tree hugging project” at Waldron Park in Dover on Saturday, March 2, at 1 p.m., according to a post on Dover Arts Commission’s Facebook page.

58. Remember the Old Man in the Mountain at the presentation “The Old Man: His Life and Legacy” on Saturday, March 16, at 11 a.m. at the Millyard Museum in Manchester (manchesterhistoric.org).

59. This year’s Black Ice Pond Hockey Championships will take place Friday, March 22, through Sunday, March 24, at Tri-Town Ice Arena in Hooksett. The games are free to watch. See blackicepondhockey.com and the event’s Facebook page for schedule updates.

60. Manchester’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be Sunday, March 24, at noon, marching down Elm Street from Salmon Street, according to saintpatsnh.com. Enjoy this free downtown event or upgrade your experience by participating in the Shamrock Shuffle (registration costs $25 for adults), a 2-mile run/walk that starts at 11 a.m. and includes a post-race beer for of-age participants. See millenniumrunning.com/shamrock.

61. On Monday, April 8, catch the total solar eclipse — but, like, safely. The eclipse is free but for $2 ($3 if you want it sent to you) you can get solar eclipse glasses from the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord (starhop.com). And you can head to the center for the “Great American Eclipse Viewing Party” from noon to 5 p.m. that day, with the eclipse predicted to begin at 2:15 p.m. and maximum Concord viewing at 3:29 p.m., according to the Center’s website.

62. The Manchester Community Music School will host the May Gruber Memorial Concert on Friday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m., with a special performance by cellist Aristides Rivas. Admission is free but registration is required; seemcmusicschool.org/events.

63. Free Comic Book Day — it’s right there in the name! On Saturday, May 4, you can score free comic books specially created for this day, which often means they introduce a character or storyline or otherwise help to bring in new readers. In our general area, both Double Midnight Comics locations (Concord and Manchester; dmcomics.com) participate, with Manchester doing the event up big with costume contests and more. Other locations include Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack (merrymacgc.com) and Collectibles Unlimited in Concord (collectiblesunlimited.biz), according to freecomicbookday.com, where you can often find previews of the books that will be available. For a Free Comic Book Day celebration that goes town-wide, check out Jetpack Comics in Rochester (jetpackcomics.com); score all the FCBD comics as well as other cool perks by volunteering to help out all day, according to the website.

At the Sofaplex

Orion and the Dark (TV-Y7)

Voices of Paul Walter Hauser, Jacob Tremblay.

Based on the book of the same name by Emma Yarlett, this animated movie tells the story of Orion (Tremblay), an 11-year-old boy who is afraid of so many things — murder clowns, cell phone radiation, aging planetarium displays, girls, people in general, Sally a girl in his class in particular and especially dark. He plugs in half a dozen night lights and begs his parents to leave the door open but if his room goes dark he screams.

Enough with the screaming, says Dark (voice of Hauser). A large cloaked yet sort of cuddly entity, Dark is tired of being hated by everybody but he is especially tired of hearing Orion yell and scream every night. So he decides that the best way to help Orion conquer his fear of the dark — and of Dark — is to take Orion with him for a 24-hour trip around the world. Dark introduces Orion to other nighttime entities: Insomnia (voice of Nat Faxon), Unexplained Noises (Golda Rosheuvel), Quiet (Aparna Nancheria), Sleep (Natasia Demetriou) and Sweet Dreams (voice of Angela Bassett). Some of their tasks are a little odd — Unexplained Noises decide that a crash with a hint of scraping is what’s needed outside one house — but they are part of the rhythms of life. And they have to keep going so that Light (voice of Ike Barinholtz) doesn’t overtake them. Light would knock Dark out of existence.

As Orion travels with Dark and friends, he slowly and sometimes indirectly overcomes or at least faces a variety of fears. The Dark — like other things in life — can be scary and sometimes we will be afraid but we have to keep going and not let fear itself overtake us, is generally the message here. But the movie makes its points with a swirl of sweetness and cleverness that, in a particularly Charlie Kaufman way (he is the screenwriter), lets the story comment on itself. The result is a story full of fun cartoony kid adventure but nice moments for adults as well. B+ Netflix

Self Reliance (R)

Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick.

Johnson also wrote and directed this dark comedy. Tommy plays a familiar Johnson character — sort of loveable shell-shocked goober in a life funk. He recently ended a two-decade-plus relationship and now lives with his mom, working a job that appears to barely keep him awake. Walking home from work one day, Tommy sees a limo pull up next to him with Andy Samberg (Andy Samberg) in the back. Andy, reading a script, offers Tommy a chance to compete in a dark web reality show. As he learns when he talks to the show’s creators, all Tommy has to do is stay alive for the next 30 days and he’ll win a million dollars. The catch is that other people — hunters — will be trying to kill him. The loophole is that he can’t be killed if he’s with other people. Tommy decides that not only does the loophole make the game winnable, it might actually be the reason to compete, so he says yes.

He explains to his mother (an excellent Nancy Lenehan, who at one point refers to “Sandy Amberg,” which is maybe my favorite part of the movie), sisters (Mary Holland, Emily Hampshire) and brother-in-law (Daryl L. Johnson) that they will need to trade off being with him around the clock to make it work. His family thinks he’s nuts and says absolutely not, leading Jake to hire a random guy he calls James (Biff Wiff) to follow him around. He also posts a call for someone to hang with on Craigslist — which is how he meets Maddy (Kendrick), who explains she’s also playing the game.

The movie quickly reaches a point of unhingedness when not only the characters, including Tommy, but we in the audience are not sure if Tommy is really competing for a million dollars or if he is in the midst of some kind of serious mental breakdown. It is, at times, unsettling but there is something about Johnson and his particular blend of earnestness, nuttiness, kindness and weirdness that makes it all work more often than not. B- Hulu

The Underdoggs (R)

Snoop Dogg, Tika Sumpter.

In The Mighty Ducks/Bad News Bears fashion, onetime football star Jaycen Jennings (Mr. Dogg) winds up coaching a down at the heels, down on its luck Long Beach kiddie football team. Actually, Jaycen is sentenced to do community service picking up poop at a Long Beach park (after crashing his car into a city bus due to unnecessary rage and some truly terrible driving) but when he sees high school sweetheart Cherise (Sumpter) pick up her young son Tre (Jonigan Booth) from the practice, he takes the advice of old friend Kareem (Mike Epps) to volunteer to coach to pull a Mighty Ducks and woo Cherise. Jaycen is at first just as selfish as a coach as he was as a player but slowly he learns about the beauty of teamwork and to truly root for these kids.

The kids in Underdoggs are young enough that this movie, with some slicing away of R-rated material (a lot of language and also weed talk), would make a fun family film. And really that’s what it should be. There’s only so “R “ you can be in an upbeat sports comedy about a kid team and I don’t think the movie benefits from the R-ness enough to make up for losing its natural family-film audience. As it is the movie feels like a fine-minus version of so many sports movies before it. C+ (the + is in part because it introduced me to the fact that Snoop Dogg actually has long supported a youth football league in the L.A. area and there is apparently a Netflix documentary series about it called Coach Snoop) Prime Video

Role Play (R)

Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo.

David (Oyelowo) and Emma (Cuoco) have a nice life with two children — Wyatt (Regan Bryan-Gudgeon) and Caroline (Lucia Aliu) — and a suburban house and a marriage that seems solid if a bit flat due to usual work-life balance stuff. Emma returns exhausted from a work trip to realize that the fancy dinner her husband has arranged is in celebration of their anniversary — which she completely forgot about. To spice things up they decide to head into the city and spend a night at a hotel — after first “meeting” in the bar playing the roles of new people, with the flirting etc.

Actually, inventing new identities is easier for Emma than David realizes. Her “work trip” wasn’t to the Midwest to talk to corporate middle managers. She went abroad to do a little light murdering. She works as an assassin, taking a contract or two every few weeks to help pay Raj (Rudi Dharmalingam), her handler who helps keep her image scrubbed from the internet and just generally keep her off the radar of Sovereign, the international assassination concern she used to work for before giving it all up for David and family life.

Before the couple can do their little sexy role play at the bar, Bob (Bill Nighy) buys Emma a drink and comes over to hit on her, drunken businessman style. Except not really, which Emma realizes. Eventually, Emma and David — pretending to be Alice and “Jack Dawson,” because David is bad at fake names — shoo Bob away and have their fancy meal. Later, when David falls asleep in their room, Emma goes to find Bob to deal with him, which doesn’t go as cleanly as she hopes. Soon there is police involvement and Emma is exposed for the secret assassin she really is. David isn’t sure what he believes, but he’s not entirely ready to turn his wife in to Gwen Carver (Connie Nielsen), the woman investigating Emma, who is really named Anna.

Not long ago, Mark Wahlberg starred in a similar super-assassin-turned-family-guy movie The Family Plan. That movie wasn’t great, but it had a more consistently comic tone. Role Play can’t quite decide if it is an action comedy or something darker, a drama with occasional comic hints but also kids in peril. Oyelowo seems to think he is in a comedy, Cuoco seems to think she’s in the darker thing. The actors are engaging enough together but they often seem like they’re operating on different frequencies. C+ Prime Video

Featured photo: Orion and the dark.

Argylle (PG-13)

A successful writer of spy novels finds herself hunted by real-life spies in Argylle, an action romantic comedy thing that feels more like cool images and parts of ideas pinned to a bulletin board than an actual movie.

The suave, James-Bond-like Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill with just some of the most unfortunate hair ever given to a man so handsome) is on the trail of a hard drive that will expose the Directorate, the super spy organization he works for. Once a good guy organization, the Directorate is now in league with bad guys, and Argylle wants to bring them down.

But Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), author of four published books and one unfinished book about fictional spy Argylle, is just sort of stuck when it comes to how the last part of Conway’s journey should unfold. On a phone call with her mom (Catherine O’Hara) she explains that her book ends on a cliffhanger. But her mom insists that she needs to finish the story — have Argylle go to London to meet the hacker, get the drive and take down his bosses. Elly tries but eventually Argylle is just standing on an empty page, giving her a confused look (possibly confused about why he would be given such a dumb green velvet-I-think suit and such terrible hair).

Elly decides to take a train to see her parents and is quickly accosted by a long-haired weirdo (Sam Rockwell) who claims to be a fan — well, first he says he’s a fan, then he says he’s a spy and he’s there to protect her. Before she can grab the cat-carrier-backpack containing her cat Archie and run, another “fan” stops at her seat to get an autograph — but the pen is really a stiletto and he seems ready to stab her. Long-hair fights him off and then fights off a series of other would-be kidnappers and/or assassins before grabbing Elly and parachuting her out of the train as it goes over a bridge.

When she awakens in some random cabin, long-hair is now shaven and shorn and says his name is Adrian Wilde. Adrian tells her that he is a spy who, like her characters, needs to find a hard drive to bring down the Division, a super secret spy agency very close to the one she described. The Division is who has sent its operatives after her because it, led by Director Ritter (Bryan Cranston), has read her fifth, unpublished book and wants to know how it ends, believing it will help him find the real-life hacker.

Adrian, looking for the hard drive just like Argylle, takes Elly to London so she can “write” what happens next and help him figure out where the hacker with all the Division-destroying information is. The Division remains hot on their trail, leading to a variety of shootouts and fight scenes and so much slow-mo this movie, played entirely at regular speed, is probably at least 15 minutes shorter.

In addition to Cavill, John Cena, Ariana DeBose and Dua Lipa play characters in Elly’s books, with Samuel L. Jackson and, briefly, Rob Delaney showing up in “real life.”

Argylle is a mess. Just writing the plot description, there are things we learn at the beginning of the movie that actually make no sense with what we learn later on or are just clunky or unnecessary. The movie doesn’t seem to figure out its vibe, maybe ever. It goes from wacky quiet-writer-lady-adventure (similar to Sandra Bullock in The Lost City) to full-on action cartoon like director Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman movies. I think, based on where this movie goes, maybe more of that cartoony action all the way through would be the way to go here. Instead that shows up just long enough to suggest a more tonally coherent version of this movie but not long enough to make Argylle actually be that version.

There are other problems. Howard is fine I guess, Rockwell is charming — together they are basically sparkless. Cranston feels like he belongs in the cartoonier version of this movie. Here, he feels en-dumb-ened by the movie, like his scary villain boss character, in absence of a more comic-book-y world around him, feels not smart enough for the job we’re supposed to believe he has. O’Hara just feels sort of ill served by everything the movie asks her to do — every scene she’s in had the potential to be funny or fun or weird in that delightful O’Hara way but the movie chooses a direction that just sort of dims her star.

This whole movie has, not potential exactly, but maybe the possibility to have potential. There are ideas that reach “hey, maybe there’s something in that?” stage but don’t go beyond that. As a result, I found myself not really enjoying this movie or even wanting to enjoy it but wishing it was a movie that I could potentially enjoy. C+, with the plus being largely for Sam Rockwell and his dislike of Archie, who looked like a mostly CGI cat, though a cat named Chip (the cat of Vaughn and his wife Claudia Schiffer) is credited on IMDb. (Meanwhile: There is apparently a mid-credits scene, which I did not stay for but read about later, and everything about it sounds exhausting.)

Rated PG-13 because these things are always rated PG-13 but officially for strong violence and action and some strong language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Matthew Vaughn and written by Jason Fuchs (though the “written by” has its own story, feel free to Google, that somehow pulls in Taylor Swift because I guess everything has a Swiftian element now), Argylle is an unnecessary two hours and 19 minutes long and is distributed in theaters by Universal.

Featured photo: Aargylle.

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