Category: Art & Theater

Luna Moth Zine Fest champions DIY spirit

Three years on, Luna Moth Zine Fest is back and bigger than ever. There are more vendors (“tablers” in the parlance), and workshops covering storytelling, crowdfunding, game drawing and community care. The festival also has its first group of paid sponsors, plus a new and larger location in Manchester, after two years in Salem.

It’s a big leap for an event that began when cartoonist April Landry grew frustrated with long drives to similar events, so she decided to do one in her home state. Landry named the festival after a species of moth that’s native to the region and found in the wild, seemingly in defiance of nature.

“It’s very strange that something that vibrant and almost tropical-looking lives in New England,” she said. “It’s a magical-looking thing, a little mythical, so it’s a way to say New England-based and New Hampshire-based while also giving it this ethereal vibe. It’s a little special.”

For anyone wondering, zines are small circulation booklets — comics, word art, ephemera, covering all manner of topics. They’re self published, rather than commercially, and exist “for self expression, art, storytelling, information sharing and pure creative joy … passion projects for humans, by humans,” according to a festival press release.

“The great thing about zines is that anybody can make a zine, and anybody can put whatever they want in a zine,” Landry said. “There’s no publisher telling you, ‘you can’t do that’ and no editor telling you can’t do anything. There’s literally no barrier between your idea and getting it out into the world with zines.”

Landry entered the zine world after she designed a Dungeons & Dragons world to play with friends. “Once the game night was over, I felt like the work was wasted, so I figured out a way to put it in a book … facts about different monsters, their hit points, where to find them, things like that.” She called her first-ever zine Things to Fight and Places to Fight Them.

Artists are often drawn to zines as an extension of their other forms of self-expression, or as a way to distribute their work.

“It’s very liberatory,” Landry said. “There are people who are making art all the time and don’t know what to do with it, or don’t have a way to get it out there. Finding zines and making zines is typically a way to do that.”

For others, they’re a tool. One person told Landry they fold a zine together on Sunday, then write in it like a diary for the week. “When they’re done, they don’t print it, they don’t make copies, they just put it on the shelf,” she said. “It’s just a way for them to get thoughts out of their heads … something that’s both outward and inward.”

There are more than 70 tablers showing their wares at this year’s event. Katherine Leung, based in Vermont, is doing Zine Fest for the first time. Leung’s Canto Cutie zine explores the experience of Cantonese people living in America. Like many other vendors, Leung’s table will offer other art products like prints and enamel pins.

“The unifying factor is that in some way, shape or form, they make zines,” Landry said. “One vendor’s zines are about learning how to knit, and there’s someone who makes coloring books … it’s a mix across the board, but in some shape or form these people are writing or publishing something themselves that they want other people to read and look at.”

Another new vendor is Silas Denver, who works using the name Sweater Muppets. “They are only now just getting into zine making, and all the stuff they’ve been putting out is cutting-edge and incredible stuff,” Landry said. “It feels really vital, and I’m so excited to have them.”

Landry said Zine Fest’s “four amazing sponsors” are Goosepoop, a Portland, Maine, game studio whose work includes the RPG Laundry Punks; Wrong Brain, a Seacoast collective celebrating “unconventional, under-represented & emerging arts”; the Boston Comics Foundation and Xomik Bük, a comic book collective.

Come with an open mind and eagerness to engage at the all-ages event, Landry urged. “What makes Luna … so popular with people is the culture there and the vibes. It’s one of these places where you can go and talk to interesting people who have like-minded interests, and they’re approachable.”

Luna Moth Zine Fest
When: Saturday, April 18, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: YWCA, 72 Concord St., Manchester
More: lunamothzinefest.bsky.social

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Landscapes and architecture among works at gallery opening

Glimpse Gallery in Concord will have creations for sale from six artists at its upcoming month-long show, done in a range of media from acrylic and oil to volcanic pumice and flakes of titanium. And it will serve as a museum of sorts for a local architect to show the process and product of his profession.

Many artistic moods are shown on the collected canvases. Andrew Freshour’s ink and watercolor works are fanciful and fun, from the playful gourmand at the center of “A Menagerie of Petite Treats” to the movement and flow of “Celestial Pilgrimage,” an array of storybook characters ascending to the clouds.

A few more are classical, one resembles a playing card, and the rotund caricatures in “Tea’d Off” and “La Reine du Gateau” are also delightful.

“You truly never know what you’re going to get when you come into Glimpse,” gallery owner Meme Exum said with a laugh. “These are clearly conversation starters, or stoppers … all perfectly framed and matted.”

Schenectady, New York-based artist Jeni Follman’s evocative landscape oil paintings are a focal point of the show, Exum continued.

“She’s one of those artists that just has such a style that is intrinsic to her,” Exum said. “She’ll have a large piece in the foyer, and in the second room in the gallery, hung salon style.”

The gallery’s curator Christina Landry-Boullion will display some of her monochromatic charcoal works, a departure from mixed media works shown at past Glimpse shows like “Lavender Peony,” “Blueberries” and “Mac Apple.” “Not what you see on her portfolio,” Exum said, “but these three large charcoal white, varying grays and black pieces.”

Painter Abigail Wade grew up in rural New Hampshire, but her impressionistic landscapes move beyond country life. “Morning on the Mississippi” captures a spare copse of trees surrounded by a curve in the river, “Lying Awake” has a brilliant urban skyline, while a “No Entry” sign at the center of “Green Fields” offers an ironic counterpoint to an idyllic snapshot.

Lizzy Berube fully embraces nature and the outdoors in her oil and acrylic paintings. “A Piece of Sky” has the perspective of someone lying in tall grass, staring up at clouds over water that look like a majestic mountain. “Time to” Go evokes a hiker’s staircase, while “Deja Blues” is a lovely meditation on rocky coastal waters.

The shows happen six times a year and run for a month, while alternating months are spent preparing for the next. One of the most compelling artists in the April show is Adam Sloat, who grew up in a house filled with art and music transfixed by Monet, Jackson Pollock and comic books.

Sloat hints at Joseph Cornell’s assemblage and Van Gogh’s texture, as he employs a variety of exotic media in his pieces, with frame materials also vital along with the painted surface. “Space Babies: Iteration One” is a vibrant example that aligns with Sloat’s artist statement goal for his art to be “a gateway for the viewer to create their own stories for what they see.”

Finally there’s architect William Exum, Meme’s husband, who will show the process behind a house built on the shore of Lake Toxaway, North Carolina, last year. “It’s engaging with design,” Meme said, adding the display has four sketches of the design surrounding a high resolution of the finished product.

“It shows people how architects plan out every detail when they get a well-designed house, not when they get a cookie-cutter big mansion,” she said. “From an artistic standpoint, I love the collaboration of details throughout the design.”

April 9 – May 9 show opening
When: Saturday, April 11, 5-7 p.m.
Where: Glimpse Gallery, 4 Park St. (Patriot Building), Concord
RSVP: contact@theglimpsegallery.com

Featured photo: First Light Niskayuna, NY by Jeni Folmann.

Book club gathering in Concord

Even casual oenophiles know that chardonnay and a soft brie go together well. But what pairs with a Dan Brown novel starring The Da Vinci Code symbologist Robert Langdon that blends futuristic science and mystical lore? The answer can be learned at an upcoming book club night at Wine on Main in downtown Concord.

Wine on Main owner Emma Stetson is still working on the wine list for the event but has already chosen a couple to go with The Secret of Secrets, Brown’s 2025 release. One is French, a Mont Gravet rosé.

“Much of the book takes place in Switzerland, which doesn’t have a great deal of wine,” she said in an email. “However, France’s coastline is right over the border and they make great rosé there.”

Another is a Lapis Luna Red Blend, from Northern California. It typically includes cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec and barbera. “The label depicts a girl sitting on top of the world and staring at the moon,” Stetson said. “It is fitting for this thriller that tackles consciousness and human existence.”

While they sip wine, attendees will discuss Brown’s book, led by Jocelyn Winn, owner of The Writing Gallery, located further up North Main Street in Concord, across from the Statehouse. Winn is the founder of editorial services company The Eleventh Letter, and she’s also a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer. Winn and Stetson began collaborating on the events a couple of years ago. They happen more or less seasonally.

“She was an English major and now she’s a wine connoisseur, so we just kind of get together and talk about different books,” Winn said by phone recently. “For a while we did a lot of what you could call beach reads.”

Books previously covered include Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers and The Chateau, a thriller written by Jaclyn Goldis set in the vineyards and markets of Provence, France. Another was The Perfect Couple, an Elin Hilderbrand novel that was made into a Netflix series in 2024.

Reading a book ahead of time isn’t mandatory, and occasionally it’s not even necessary. Winn noted that past gatherings have focused on television shows such as The White Lotus and Downton Abbey.

Each evening includes props and other touches inspired by whatever work is being discussed, Winn noted.

“The space gets a little bit decorated for the book,” she said, “Then Emma has wine and cheese and crackers and usually some sweets. Oftentimes she will create a slideshow.”

These visual aids often include maps of viticultural regions found in the literature, which Stetson will use to explain each wine. Winn will intersperse other activities as well.

“We’ll do trivia; I’ll ask questions and give away prizes or do raffles,” she said. “Or they’ll put their name in a hat and get some type of book-themed door prize.”

The next book club night, in June, focuses on Laura Knoy’s wartime novel The Shopkeeper of Alsace and will include a Q&A with Knoy. “That’ll be the first one that Emma and I have done together that the author will be present,” Winn said, adding that attendees can also ask questions. “It’s always amazing as a reader when you can talk to the writer directly.”

Winn’s unique gallery, which opened late in 2025, continues to grow, with workshops and art exhibitions. Irene Yushin’s “Beyond Words” opens April 10. A lifelong visual artist, Yushin overcame severe dyslexia and is now a writer, working on a memoir. Her show will feature her works from “before and after finding words.”

Winn is pleased with her gallery’s success.

“I have been super fortunate and lucky,” she said. “It’s exactly what I had envisioned, and honestly, I think that’s the first time in my life I could say that about anything. How often does everything you envision actually happen, with anything — relationships, jobs, vacations? And it happened fast. It has been, in the best possible way, definitely a whirlwind.”

Book Club Night: The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown
When: Thursday, April 2, 6:30-8 p.m.
Where: Wine on Main, North Main Street, Concord
Tickets: $34 at eventbrite.com

Featured photo: Wine on Main book club. Courtesy photo.

SleepOut event helps unhoused youth

In 2015, Manchester social services organization Waypoint, then known as Child & Family Services, organized the first SleepOut event. On a snowy, subfreezing night, nearly 50 community members slept in Stanton Park to raise money and awareness of unhoused youth in the city. The effort netted over $132,000 in donations and became an annual tradition.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ended the camper gathering with its 2024 Grants Pass vs. Johnson ruling that allowed municipalities to criminalize sleeping in public. As critics noted, though, homelessness can’t be arrested away, so the problem continues, as does SleepOut. Participants now sleep outside on private lawns, porches and cars.

SleepOut 2026 begins Friday, March 27, with a sale of youth artwork made during a program hosted by Positive Street Art.

“All year long, they learn about art, they create it and teach other people,” Mandy Lancaster, Waypoint’s Homeless Youth Program director, said recently. “One hundred percent of the proceeds go directly to the young people.”

Lancaster believes the art installation is a healing force for its participants.

“It also allows them access to community and a sense of belonging,” she said. This is “probably more important than [what’s] written on the goal plan. Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it happens through connection and safe relationships, and this is part of that.

The works, she added, are impressive.

“I’m not an artist, but I’m continuously blown away by what these young people are producing. They have worked with a bunch of different mediums, like photography, mixed media, painting on canvas and illustration. It’s really incredible.”

Lancaster said the weekly program goes beyond an arts and crafts class; critical thinking is a key component.

“What is art and how do people perceive it, just these big, wonderful, bold questions that they’re asking themselves and grappling with. They’ve taken field trips to museums. They’re so contemplative and introspective. It’s really special.”

The gallery viewing will be followed by a solidarity gathering in Bronstein Park, across from the Waypoint Youth Drop-in Center. There will be speakers talking about both being unhoused and overcoming it. “Staff might share stories on their behalf,” Megan Sampson of Waypoint wrote in an email. “It can be a difficult thing for youth [to discuss].”

During the SleepOut program in the park, there will be some soup and bread, and the artist gallery will stay open until 8 p.m. “Following that, participants will return to sleep out at their homes or other gatherings,” Sampson said. Sleepers are spread across the state, so the speaking portion of the event will also be livestreamed for those who can’t attend. Lancaster urged the community at large to attend SleepOut 2026.

“I want to fill the park,” she said. “At the end of the day it is a fundraiser, but not everyone has the financial means to do that. You can sponsor a sleeper or sign up and be a sleeper. You can bear witness to what is shared there, speak to young people, buy their art — there are many different ways to [show] support.”

These are challenging times for Waypoint and other social services organizations. “Unprecedented decisions have been made that have directly threatened funding streams and/or the ability to provide supportive services to young people experiencing homelessness,” she said. “It’s like swimming upstream with a fast-moving current.”

However, small victories buoy her spirits. “Twenty years ago when I was getting into homeless services, I really wanted to change the world; my perception has just changed so much,” she said. “I really want to co-create meaningful relationships one person at a time. That’s allowed me to stay in the work … micro joy, micro moments, just connecting.”

SleepOut 2026 Youth Art Gallery
When: Friday, March 27, at 5 p.m.
Where: Waypoint Youth Drop-in Center, 298 Hanover St., Manchester
More: Full SleepOut program begins at 6 p.m. in Bronstein Park (across the street)

Featured photo: SleepOut mural. Courtesy photo.

A night of show tunes is a friendly competition

The Lakes Region-based Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative has won Best Community Musical honors for three years in a row at the New Hampshire Theatre Alliance Awards, most recently for The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Their upcoming Just Duet fundraiser is a chance to learn why, as a group of mostly Powerhouse company members belt out Broadway songs.

It’s the fourth year for what is a friendly competition, though its title is a misnomer.

“Last year you were allowed to bring in a ringer for one of your songs and make a trio, and this year you can supersize,” Powerhouse producer and co-founder Bryan Halperin said in a recent phone interview. “Two teams can work together on a song, to create a quartet.”

So, not just duets, but it’s a lot of fun. During the evening, a range of songs will be performed. There are Disney musicals like Beauty & the Beast, Frozen and The Lion King, along with Beetlejuice, The Book of Mormon, Hamilton, Into the Woods, and the new-ish Suffs. For Mel Brooks fans, there’s The Producers and Young Frankenstein.

Not all singers are Powerhouse veterans.

“Some of the teams,” Halperin said, “pulled in a friend who hasn’t done something with us yet. For the most part it’s our regulars, but it’s open to anyone who wants to apply, and we do have some new people this year.”

For the first three years, the husband-and-wife team of Joel and Laura Iwaskiewicz took first prize, but that won’t happen this go-round. That’s because the couple are hosting the competition. They will also perform, singing and dancing their way through “There Once Was a Man,” from The Pajama Game.

The two won last year for their rendition of Singin’ in the Rain’s “Moses Supposes.” Their performance was carried by dazzling dance breaks, Joel recalled in a Zoom interview.

“There’s always been some element of choreography we’ve challenged ourselves with,” he said. “That’s kept it really fun, but I think it also maybe gives us a little bit of an edge.”

Joel and Laura met as performers. “It feels as cliché as a musical theater romance can get,” he said. “I was a guy, she was a doll; things just took off from there.” Asked if the invitation to host this year’s Just Duet might be a strategy to prevent them from getting another win, he chuckled.

“I mean, we don’t run the show, but we can confidently say there will be a new champion.”

Proceeds from the benefit show will be split between Powerhouse programs and the Colonial Theatre Investment Fund, which provides general support for upkeep, improvements and repairs at the venue. “This is one way Powerhouse gives back to the Colonial,” Halperin said. “It’s our home base, and we try to take really good care of it.”

An overall winner will be chosen by scores on a 10-point scale from guest judges Eric Hoffman (Laconia City Council), Heather Bishop (Lakes 101.5 Radio), Katherine Switala Elmhurst (Belknap Mill) and Jared Guilmett (Colonial Theatre Advisory Board), along with audience voting (there’s also an Audience Choice award).

Voting can also be done by donation, either with cash at the event or though the Powerhouse wesite. “If people want to support the cause or their favorite duo but can’t make it, they can still contribute online,” Halperin said, “and buy votes for the team of their choosing.”

The Powerhouse season continues May 1 with the New Hampshire premiere of The Magician’s Elephant. Also upcoming is the 2026 Play Festival (May 30-31), with 14 original works from a winter playwright workshop, and a June 27 concert version of 1776 to mark the semiquincentennial, with music provided by the Lake Street Symphony Orchestra.

With Shrek: The Musical (Aug. 7-9), Big Bad (Sept. 12-13) — the wolf giving his side of Little Red Riding Hood — and a pair of Peter Pan origin stories in October, it’s a busy year.

“We’re just trying to pack our schedule with stuff that keeps people engaged, both performers and the audience,” Halperin said. “We’re excited about what we’re working on.”

Just Duet: Broadway Style
When: Saturday, March 21, 7 p.m.
Where: Colonial Theatre, 609 Main St., Laconia
Tickets: $25 at etix.com

Featured photo: Joel and Laura Iwaskiewicz. Courtesy photo.

Old House & Barn Expo returns

The Old House & Barn Expo at Saint Anselm College on March 14 and March 15 might at first glance seem like any trade show. There are more than 50 exhibitors, selling everything from wall stencils and paint to rugs and cabinets. Services for homeowners to help bring historic buildings into the modern age while preserving their history are also on offer.

Upon closer inspection, though, it’s much, much more. There are hands-on activities such as plaster repair, and one-on-one sessions with house doctors. An 18- by 18-foot timber frame structure will be built during the event, with ongoing hourly talks about its repair, assembly and disassembly.

There are lectures, 25 in all, held in the nearby Dana Center, that include topics both practical and inspirational, like “Mural Talk: When Walls Take Us Back in Time,” given by Lisa Curry of Canvasworks Design. More pragmatic is Justin Paynter of ReVision Energy talking about integrating solar power and heat pumps into old homes.

The biennial show is the creation of the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, a 41-year-old nonprofit that is focused on the rescue and revival of important landmarks, and supporting old home and barn enthusiasts in similar efforts. The show, they believe, is the largest of its kind in New England. It was launched 20 years ago; this is the eleventh expo.

“The Preservation Alliance loves this opportunity to get people together,” the organization’s president, Jennifer Goodman, who also helped launch the expo, said by phone recently. “We’re excited that there are a lot of new topics, exhibitors and presenters, in addition to longtime favorites.”

Other hour-long sessions focus on building a modern kitchen into an old house, understanding character-defining features of a dwelling before starting work, and sustainability in historic preservation. A session called “House Histories” is a guide to researching the evolution of an old structure.

There are two panel discussions on the final day, “Celebrating Semiquincentennial Farms: Stewardship and Legacy,” led by former New Hampshire Agriculture, Markets & Food Commissioner Steve Taylor, and “Details Make the Difference,” with a panel that includes a representative from the League of NH Craftsmen.

Speaking of details, there’s a session on architectural millwork led by specialist Brett Hull. “It helps you date a house … so people understand the history,” Goodman said. “What the evolution over time looked like, the different eras and architectural styles, how it was made and used.”

The expo is a multi-generational event.

“It attracts young people looking for their first house as well as older people who might want to find solutions for aging in place,” she said. They’ll find answers to questions about energy efficiency, how to lower operating costs, even paint color and garden design.

There will be experts available to help people figure out how to program new uses into old spaces, build an addition to an older property, or how to use new technology to help with old house care — though old tech isn’t left out. An “Artistry in Iron” session focuses on the history and reuse of antique stoves.

The expo happens every other year and alternates with the Alliance’s statewide historic preservation conference, Goodman said. “That’s more geared toward community leaders who are saving old farms and reviving their local meeting house or trying to find a new use for an old church.”

Goodman has been with the organization for more than two decades. When asked what drew her to it, she replied, “I love the people and places involved in the preservation movement, so it’s been exciting and fulfilling to get to work with people and work on projects that are really special to the character and economy of the state.”

The work is vital, she continued: “I really believe in historic preservation as a tool to save and revive beautiful homes, beautiful barns, beautiful places and communities around the state. I really believe in how the tool is a really important factor in resource conservation and keeping communities vital economically.”

Old House & Barn Expo
When: Saturday, March 14, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 15, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Sullivan Ice Arena, 100 Saint Anselm Drive, Saint Anselm College, Manchester
Tickets: Weekend pass $20 ($12 for students, seniors and veterans); day pass $12 ($7 for students, seniors and veterans)

Featured photo: NH House & Barn Expo. Credit Steve Booth.