The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities
• Seeking art: The Manchester Arts Commission is bringing back the City Employee and Family Art Show in the first-floor “Art on the Wall at City Hall” gallery to run Monday, Oct. 2, through Thursday, Nov. 30, according to a press release. An opening reception will be held at City Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 10, when prizes will be awarded in several categories, the release said. Participants must be an employee, retiree, volunteer, elected official or immediate family member of that group of the City of Manchester or the Manchester School District, the release said. Register by Thursday, Aug. 31 at nationalartsprogram.org/venues/manchester/manchester-nh-registration.
• Pastel garden: Manchester-based artists Susanne Larkham will present her pastel works featuring flowers in “Fleur-delys” at the New Hampshire Art Association’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery (136 State St. in Portsmouth) Thursday, July 6, through Sunday, July 30, with a reception on Friday, July 7, from 5 to8 p.m. as part of the Art Around Town first Friday, according to a press release. The gallery is open Tuesday through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. See nhartassociation.org or call 431-4230.
• Gardens for theater: The Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) will hold a Garden Tour on Saturday, July 15, from 10 a.m to 3 p.m. Tickets cost $25; participants will start at Demers Garden Center in Manchester and then head off on a self-guided, self-paced tour of eight private homes in Manchester with other special stops along the way, according to the website.
• Also at the Palace: The theater’s Children’s Summer Series was slated to kick off Wednesday, July 5. Each week a different family-friendly play will run Tuesday through Thursday at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and Friday at 10 a.m. The first show is magician BJ Hickman. The series runs through Aug. 25 (that final week’s show is Finding Nemo Jr.). The shows all feature professional actors. Tickets cost $10 per person (call the box office for tickets for infants under 1 year old).
“Heroes, Renegades and Rogues”
Artist Darren Taylor will exhibit his works in a solo show called “Heroes, Renegades and Rogues” at the Taylored Art Studios (31 A S. Main St. in Concord; tayloredartstudios.net) Friday, July 7, through Friday, July 21. The gallery is open Wednesdays through Fridays from noon to 6 p.m. The pieces will delve “into the realm of courage, rebellion and the enigmatic figures that embody them” and the show will feature more than 35 original works in acrylic, pastel and mixed media, according to a press release. An artist reception will be held on Friday, July 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. See tayloredartstudios.net.
• Save the date: The Currier Museum of Art’s (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org) annual Summer Block Party will be Saturday, July 15, from 4 to 9 p.m. The event features free gallery admission, art activities, food trucks, face painting, a beer and wine tent, community art projects and more, according to the website. This year’s theme is nature and environmentalism, the website said.
• More theater for kids: Kid-friendly productions will be starting at Capitol Center for the Arts stages in the next week. RB Productions kicks off a series of shows with Addams Family on Friday, July 7, and Saturday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at the Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com). Tickets cost $15.75 for seniors and students, $18.75 for adults. RB Productions presents five more shows at Cap Center stages throughout the next month, ending with a 20th-anniversary celebration at the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord) on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 6 p.m. Impact Touring Children’s Theatre starts its upcoming run of shows at the Cap Center on Tuesday, July 11, with Pinnocchio at 10 a.m.
• Musical comedy: The Majestic Theatre will present the Tony-nominated musical Catch Me If You Can at the Derry Opera House (29 West Broadway in Derry) on Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 16, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students. Go to majestictheatre.net to purchase tickets or call 669-7469.
Howard Fishman on Connie Converse
In December 2010, writer and musician Howard Fishman heard a song at a holiday party that sent him down a rabbit hole, resulting in his publication of To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse 13 years later. Fishman will discuss his new book, a biography of the New Hampshire-born singer-songwriter who disappeared back in 1974, during an event at Gibson’s Bookstore (45. S Main St. in Concord; gibsonsbookstore.com, 224-0562) on Wednesday, July 12, at 6:30 p.m.
“Listening to this song, I found it hard not to be captivated by this person, to want to be her friend, to know her,” Fishman writes in his book about first hearing the song he would later find out was titled “Talkin’ Like You.”
After leaving the party, Fishman headed to the store and bought the 2009 compilation album How Sad, How Lovely, featuring a series of Converse’s recordings from the 1950s.
“The more I listened to her music, the more my curiosity grew,” Fishman writes. “I felt the need to know the rest of Converse’s story, the details that had driven her to make this particular music, at that particular time. … What had led to her tragic fate, to her simply vanishing…. Who she was or, even, potentially, could still be.”
According to Fishman, Connie Converse was born Elizabeth Eaton Converse in 1924 in Laconia and grew up in Concord. After she completed high school and dropped out of college, her whereabouts were not particularly clear for the next five years until she wound up in New York City to try her hand at making it in the music industry. In 1961, after her time in New York, Converse moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where her brother Phil lived. The fateful day of her disappearance dates back to the summer of 1974 when Converse packed her car and drove away, having written letters to her brother and friends saying she wanted to try one more time at a new life but didn’t feel that it would work out. She was never seen or heard from again.
Everything else she left behind sat undisturbed in a filing cabinet in her brother’s garage, until Fishman knocked on Phil’s door decades later. In his book, Fishman takes readers on this journey with him. —Mya Blanchard