Author: The Hippo Press

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Spring into love: “To Manchester With Love,” the new exhibition from theMosaic Art Collective ( 66 Hanover St., Suite 201, in Manchester; mosaicartcollective.com, 512-6209) is on display now through Friday, March 29. According to a press release, the show is dedicated to celebrating Youth Art Month and the artistic talents of high school students from Manchester. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, March 9, from 4 to 8 p.m.

• Spring on top of a piano: The city’s oldest music series, the Concord Community Concert Association opens its 93rd spring season Saturday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Concord City Auditorium with Mia Vassilev. The internationally acclaimed piano virtuoso Mia Vassilev and Company’s ensemble adds percussion and dance to her dynamic performance style, according to a press release. The same press release stated that every CCCA concert becomes a party for the local music community with special refreshments served before the show and at the artists’ meet-and-greet. There will be a specially themed silent auction to support the artists’ fees. The CCCA season finale concert on Saturday, April 13, with headliner William Florian. The all-volunteer CCCA offers five concerts for a $60 season ticket, and students are admitted free. Tickets for this performance are $20 (free for youth to 18) and are available at the door 90 minutes before the show time or by calling 344-4747. See ccca-audi.org.

• See Simone: The Bookery (848 Elm St. in Manchester) will host TikTok artist Simone on her Open Book tour on Sunday, March 10, as she performs unreleased songs from her forthcoming EP at independent bookstores. According to the Bookery’s newsletter, a meet & greet will follow the performance. RSVP for the performance at laylo.com/simone/m/Crr66, and you can follow Simone at @simonemusic

• Spring into the color: On Sunday, March 10, from 2 to 4 p.m., the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester, 669-6144, currier.org) welcomes Theatre Kapow back to present a staged reading of Red, John Logan’s 2009 play unpacking the artistic approach of artist Mark Rothko, according to a press release. The performance will be followed by a facilitated conversation and a gallery visit to view Rothko’s painting “Untitled (Red over Brown),” which is featured in “Toward the New: A Journey into Abstraction,” an exhibition on view at the museum now through March 31. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for ages 13-17 and 65+, $10 for members, and free for children under 13.

• Spring into a Shakespeare audition: The Cue Zero Theatre Co. will hold open auditions at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire (19 Keewaydin Drive in Salem) for William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), a play by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor, on Tuesday, April 2, at 6 p.m., with callbacks on Sunday, April 7, at 1 p.m. Performances will take place June 21 through June 23. Interested performers should sign up for a time slot on Cue Zero’s website, where you can find more information about preparing for the audition. See cztheatre.com/index.php/get-involved.

• Spring into the mothership: The Players’ Ring (105 Marcy St. in Portsmouth) is beaming up the play Aliens, written by Annie Baker, March 8 through March 24, produced in collaboration with Bardo Theatre Co. The play is described as a painfully beautiful drama as well as afunny, heartening play with music about art, friendship, and love, according to a press release. Showtimes will be Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. as well as matinee performances on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. General admission is $28, or $25 for students and 65+. Get tickets and more information atplayersring.org/shows/aliens.

• Spring acting classes: The Palace Youth Theatre’s Palace Academy has a slate of spring classes including Improv and Acting Games I (for grades 1-5; Thursdays at 5 p.m., starting March 14), Improv and Acting Games II (for grades 6 to 9; Thursdays at 6 p.m., starting March 14); Mini Camp (for grades 2 to 6; Fridays at 5 p.m., starting March 8); Scene to Song (for grades 5 to 9; Mondays at 4 p.m., staring March 11); Stagecraft: Props (grades 4 to 12; Fridays at 4 p.m. starting March 8); Scene Study (grades 6 to 12; Fridays at 5 p.m. starting March 8); Intro to Directing (grades 6 to 12; Fridays 6:30 p.m, starting March 8), and Intro to Sketch Writing (grades 6 to 12; Monday at 5 p.m., starting March 11). The cost is $100 for each class series; see palacetheatre.org/pyt/palace-academy to register.

—Zachary Lewis

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Also coming to the Currier: In addition to the new exhibit on Feb. 29, the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) will open “I live a journey of a thousand years: Raphaël Barontini” on Thursday, March 7. The exhibition features “La Bataille de Vertières” as its centerpiece, “a monumental 65-foot-wide painting that first premiered inside the Panthéon and will be on view in the U.S. for the first time,” according to a press release.

The exhibit will be on display through Sunday, June 23.

• First Friday at Center for the Arts: The Kearsarge Conservatory of the Performing Arts will present “Dance Through Time” at the Center for the Arts’ First Friday event on Friday, March 1,at 6:30 p.m. at Whipple Hall in New London, according to a press release. The event is described as an “interactive journey through the captivating history of dance styles,” the release said. The event is free; see centerfortheartsnh.org.

• Shakespeare workshop: Truepenny Arts (truepennyarts.com) will hold a workshop on Shakespeare with former National Theatre Conservatory faculty and professional coach Michael Cobb on Saturday, March 16, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalism Church of Concord (274 Pleasant St. in Concord). The cost is $25 ($20 if registered and paid by March 1). The workshop is designed for both beginners and experienced actors/directors of Shakespeare and will introduce conservatory-level acting exercises and coaching techniques, according to a press release.

• Animals of the world: The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce (49 S. Main St., Suite 104, Concord) will present “Wildlife from 7 Continents” by artist Kae Mason Tuesday, May 5, through Monday, May 6. The works in the exhibit feature paintings of “animals in their natural habitat” and are “influenced predominantly by global safaris that she embarks on with her wife,” according to a press release. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The pieces are for sale by contacting the New Hampshire Art Association at 431-4230, the release said.

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
The Milford Area Players present The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis, this weekend and next at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts (56 Mont Vernon St. in Milford). Tickets cost $20 for general admission, $15 for students and seniors, and are available at rb.gy/t4jcd. The production, directed by Angèlica Forcier Rosenthal, is set in a courtroom in purgatory where Judas Iscariot is on trial to decide whether he deserves hell or redemption, according to a press release. The show contains adult language, drug and alcohol use, discussions of suicide and other dark situations; viewer discretion is advised, according to the content warning on the press release (see milfordareaplayers.org for the full content warning). The play runs Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, March 3, at 2:30 p.m.; Friday, March 8, and Saturday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 10, at 2:30 p.m.

• Silent film screenings: Jeff Rapsis, accompanist who “specializes in creating live musical scores for films,” will play with several silent film showings in early March:

On Sunday, March 3, at 2 p.m. Why Worry? (1923), a comedy starring Harold Lloyd, at Wilton Town Hall Theatre (40 Main St. in Wilton). Admission is free; a $10 per person donation is suggested.

On Wednesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. Way Down East (1920) at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center (39 Main St. in Plymouth; flyingmonkeynh.com). The film stars Lillian Gish and was directed by D.W. Griffith. The cost is $10 per person.

On Sunday, March 10, Peter Pan, a 1924 release that is the original silent film adaption of the film, at 1:30 p.m. at the Bedford Public Library (3 Meetinghouse Road in Bedford). Admission is free but registration is required. Register at bedfordnhlibrary.org.

• Piano lessons: Palace Youth Theatre is offering piano lessons with instructor Marc Willis starting in March, according to a press release. Half-hour lessons are one-on-one and for students grades 1 to 12, with a cost of $30 per half hour, the email said. Sign up by contacting MeganAlves@palacetheatre.org.

Kara Walker at the Currier
The exhibition “Kara Walker: Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated)” opens Thursday, Feb. 29, at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) and will be on display through Monday, May 27. According to a press release, “15 works on paper by Walker will be presented alongside a selection of prints by Winslow Homer … that inspired them. The direct comparison between the original images by Homer and Walker’s reinterpretation of the same material was first undertaken by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2017.” Homer worked as a war correspondent for Harper’s magazine and his drawings “of soldiers on the front lines of battle and civilians caught up in the war’s horrors became a visual history of the Civil War,” the release said. “These historic prints represent a starting point for Walker, who revisits them utilizing her signature silhouettes to introduce new elements that complicate their initial, seemingly objective narrative,” the release said.

A members-only tour will be held at 2 p.m. on Feb. 29; register online.

Kara Walker, Alabama Loyalists Greeting the Federal Gun-Boats, From Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War (Annotated), 2005. © Kara Walker, Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co. and Sprüth Magers.