Category: Art & Theater

The Art Roundup 23/02/23

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

• Meet the Marches: The Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) brings the March sisters (Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy) and their Marmee to the stage with Little Women, the Broadway musical, which will run Friday, March 3, through Sunday, March 19. The shows run Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $25 to $46.

• Postponed until Friday: The Community Players of Concord’s production of The 39 Steps, originally slated to run at the Concord City Auditorium last weekend, will hit the stage Friday, Feb. 24, through Sunday, Feb. 26, according to a Players press release. The show will go on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m., with tickets purchased for the original show dates valid for the same day of the week. Tickets are on sale for the new dates at communityplayersofconcord.org. Ticket holders who want a refund or to change the day of the week can contact box office chair David Murdo at 344-4747 or [email protected], the release said.

• Postponed until May: Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, who had been scheduled to play the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester; anselm.edu/dana-center-humanities) on Thursday, Feb. 23, will now play the Dana Center on Wednesday, May 31. Tickets purchased for the February show will be valid. Tickets cost $45.

Animals and happiness
The Two Villages Art Society’s gallery (846 Main St. in Contoocook; twovillagesart.org) will present “Secrets of Happiness,” a solo show by Ty Meier, Saturday, Feb. 25, through Saturday, April 1. On Saturday, Feb. 25, from 3 to 4 p.m. there will be an opening reception followed by live music from 4 to 6 p.m. by Hydro-Geo Trio, a Hopkinton-based band, according to a press release. Meier’s pieces are “acrylic and inks, generally painting stylized animals and birds,” the release said.

• The girls’ story: Cue Zero Theatre Company will open its fourth season on Friday, March 3, with the play Radium Girls, by DW Gregory, about the women who painted watch dials with radium paint in the early 20th century and became sick from radium poisoning, according to a press release. The play will run Friday, March 3, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, March 4, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 5, at 2 p.m. at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire (19 Keewaydin Drive, No. 4, in Salem). Tickets cost $15 per person and are available online at cztheatre.com and at the door.

• About Jackie: The Derry Public Library (derrypl.org) will hold a virtual program on Wednesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m. called “Jacqueline Kennedy: Beyond Style” featuring a docent from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to discuss the first lady’s life and legacy, according to the website. The program will include photographs and documents from the Kennedy Library’s archives, the website said. Register online.

Inspiring voices

Poetry Society hosts virtual session with displaced Ukrainian poets

As the first anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine looms, the New Hampshire Poetry Society is showing its support for Ukrainian poets.

Through a virtual event, the New Hampshire Poetry Society will have poets who are currently or have been refugees in Poland read poetry written in their native language.

Ewa Chrusciel, a member of the New Hampshire Poetry Society and the person who proposed the reading, said that she, state’s poet laureate Alexandria Peary, and Society president Melanie Chicoine will read the translations of the poems.

Chrusciel said she wanted to find a way to respectfully honor the beginning of the war and the experiences of those displaced by it. To her, written word, especially poetry, is one of the main ways she can show support for Ukraine, especially if those writers hail from the war-torn nation.

“When countries are occupied, [written word is] how we carry on when languages are banned or when we are divided by other countries,” Chrusciel said. “When the territory is divided, the language becomes the nation, the poetry becomes the nation.”

When Chrusciel visited a theater she loved in her native Poland, she said, she was shocked to see the space was being used to house displaced families from the war in Ukraine. She had intended to take in a show on her routine visit, or at least catch up with some members of the artistic community.

Through some connections at the theater, Chrusciel quickly made a workshop for 14 writers who found themselves stranded by the war in their homeland.

“It was a bit like the tower of Babel,’” Chrusciel said. “I speak Polish and English, some spoke Polish, Ukrainian and English. There was lots of translation going on, but it still felt like a very united, transcendent moment.”

It took all of three hours in the performance space for Chrusciel to feel that these women were her close friends. Over the course of the war, Chrusciel said, she has met up with many of the writers still in Poland. Many members of the group have moved around, staying with family in other parts of Europe or in America. Chrusciel said she knows two of the writers went back to Ukraine.

When the group met, Chrusciel hoped to keep the meeting lighthearted. She didn’t intentionally bring up the writers’ displacement as a source for the workshop. She brought humorous poems to inspire the writers, but the poets were drawn to tackling the most relevant topic in their lives.

“That experience of loss was palpable,” Chrusciel said. “[The poems] would always transpire on the topic of loss and displacement and homesickness.”

At the virtual reading, Chrusciel hopes the writers, and the listeners, can learn more about how the war has affected the poets. She said that having people hear the poetry will be a step toward understanding the pain and hope of the Ukrainian writers.

While not all the writers from the original group will be joining the virtual event, Chrusciel said all of them have continued writing, and will continue to document their experiences any way they can.

“Poetry can save a human,” Chrusciel said. “They write down those details they see and feel. Their poetry isn’t just a playground, it’s a witness, it’s a testimony, and it’s a responsibility.”

Voice In A Shattered World: Ukrainian Women Writers On War And Displacement
Where: Saturday, Feb. 25, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
When:On Zoom, link is listed on the website.
Visit: psnh.org

Featured photo: Ukrainian writers group in Poland. Photo courtesy of Ewa Chrusciel.

The Art Roundup 23/02/16

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

• Schedule change: The Community Players of Concord’s production of The 39 Steps originally slated to run at the Concord City Auditorium this weekend has been postponed to Friday, Feb. 24, through Sunday, Feb. 26, due to an illness within the company, according to a Players press release. The show will go on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m., with tickets purchased for the original show dates valid for the same day of the week. Tickets are on sale for the new dates at communityplayersofconcord.org. Ticket holders who want a refund or to change the day of the week can contact box office chair David Murdo at 344-4747 or [email protected], the release said.

• New at the Currier: The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) will kick off a new series of discussions with the museum’s educators and curators this Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m. with a tour led by museum director Alan Chong, according to the website. The tour is part of the museum’s weekly Art After Work program, when admission is free from 5 to 8 p.m and the evening includes tours and live music (this week: Hickory Horned Devils), the website said.

While at the museum, check out the newly acquired painting “Black Men and Women in a Tavern,” which was painted in Antwerp around 1650 and “produced in the circle of the Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger,” according to the website. It is one of the “earliest depictions of free Black people in Europe,” the website said. The painting is on view in the European gallery, the website said.

• Exploring memory: Theatre Kapow will present Breadcrumbs, a play by Jennifer Haley, for the next two weekends with shows at Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Friday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m.

Performances on Friday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. will be livestreamed from Theatre Kapow’s studio, the website said. “A reclusive fiction writer diagnosed with dementia must depend upon a troubled young caretaker to complete her autobiography,” according to a press release. The Sunday show will be followed by a discussion with representatives from community organizations who will answer questions about Alzheimer’s and resources for patients and caregivers, the release said. In-person tickets cost $28 for adults, $23 for students (plus fees). Live stream tickets cost $15 per device and are available at tkapow.com.

Acrobats
The Peking Acrobats featuring the Shanghai Circus will come to the Stockbridge Theatre (5 Pinkerton St. in Derry; pinkertonacademy.org/stockbridge-theatre) on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, $15 for youth and $5 for Pinkerton students, according to the website, which describes the performers as pushing “the limits of human ability, defying gravity with amazing displays of contortion, flexibility and control.”

• Music from the Black church to popular culture: Author Vaughn A. Booker, a professor of religion at Dartmouth, will lead the virtual program “Lift Every Voice and Swing” hosted by NH Humanities on Friday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m., according to a NH Humanities newsletter. Booker, whose 2020 book is called Lift Every Voice and Swing: Black Musicians and Religious Culture in the Jazz Century, will discuss “how the religious beliefs of popular jazz musicians like Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams shaped their music” the newsletter said. Go to nhhumanities.org to register for the program.

• Winter concert: The New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra will present “Winter Serenities” featuring “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis” by Ralph Vaughn Williams, the Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra by Eugene Goosen and “Symphony #1” by Gustav Mahler this Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. Both shows will be presented at the Seifert Performing Arts Center (44 Geremonty Drive in Salem; 893-7069). Tickets cost $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, $8 for students and $5 for K-through-12 Salem students, according to nhpo.booktix.com.

• A second chance at beautiful music: The Manchester Community Music School’s faculty performance of “Chanson d’Amour” featuring Harel Gietheim on cello and Piper Runnion on harp has been rescheduled (it had been slated for Jan. 19) for Thursday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. at the school, 2291 Elm St. in Manchester, according to a press release. Admission is free but pre-register at mcmusicschool.org to attend in person or online.

• The kid circus: The High Mowing School middle schoolers (Pine Hill Campus, 77 Pine Hill Drive in Wilton; highmowing.org/hilltop, 654-6003) will show off their circus skills with their show Circus with a Chance of Meatballs Thursday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 17, at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 for adults, $5 for children.

Even closer to opening night

Nashua Community Arts receives another gift

With the smell of sawdust lingering in the air and the first layer of flooring and drywall up, the Nashua Center for the Arts is physically constructed.

While the project was in talks for the better part of a decade, and ground broke almost five years ago, seeing the modern building design, the 750-seat theater and the lights and sound systems being installed makes the project much more real.

Construction, according to Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess, is due in large part to Bank of America and the generous gift of $250,000 they gave in 2022. On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the bank has matched that amount, to give a total of half a million dollars for the project.

“When [Bank of America] stepped up for $250,000 and became a donor of a lobby … that really showed the community that there is a lot of interest,” said Richard Lannan, the president of Nashua Community Arts. With the new donation, the theater in the Nashua Center for the Arts will be called the Bank of New Hampshire Theater, said Lannan.

Lannan said he has been a champion for this project from the start, helping conceive the idea 10 years ago when Nashua Community Arts first pitched the prospect of a state-of-the-art theater in the downtown area. Lannan said a survey was conducted to ask members of the community if they wanted to see a theater built and if they thought it would be a good thing for downtown. With much positive feedback, the project was decided.

Choosing architects and contractors and designing the theater took two years, Lannan said. Construction began in 2020.

Now, only eight weeks from completion, Lannan is amazed that the project is so close to being finished.

“I’m in here every week,” said Lannan. “Even with that, I’ll be wondering, ‘Oh wow, when did they do that?’ It’s awesome.”

For now the stage is just concrete, the seats are in storage, and the reception area is matching shades of off-white walls and gray base layer flooring, but the image of a theater with state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems and a special type of floor that can hold seats or be used as a function hall, a standing-room-only pit or even a banquet area is coming to fruition.

“We are a destination now,” said Wendy Hunt, president of the Nashua Chamber of Commerce. “I personally cannot wait for April 1. [Visitors are] going to find out that we are state of the art in so many ways. Really, Nashua has it all.”

April 1 will be the official opening reception for the Nashua Center for the Arts, ahead of the first show coming to the theater, Winnie the Pooh, opening on April 6. Not all the shows will be plays, with a magician coming, several concerts, and a ballet rendition of Beauty and the Beast.

The reception is completely sold out.

“It feels good to come in and see things happening,” Lannan said, looking around the soon-to-be-filled theater. “I’ve been involved since the beginning. I can’t wait to start coming to shows.”

Winnie the Pooh
Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St.
When: Thursday, April 6, and Friday, April 7, at 6 p.m.
Price: $39 to $69
Visit: nashuacenterforthearts.com

Featured photo: There won’t be a bad seat in the house at the Nashua Center for the Arts. Photo by Katelyn Sahagian.

The Art Roundup 23/02/09

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

• The big 2-0: Manchester Community Theatre Players will be “Celebrating 20” this Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. at the North End Montessori School (698 Beech St. in Manchester). Tickets for this musical retrospective of the last 20 years cost $20 and are available at the door or at manchestercommunitytheatre.com.

• Romeo + Juliet: Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative (belknapmill.org/powerhouse-upcoming-productions) presents Romeo and Juliet at the Colonial Theatre (609 Main St. in Laconia) on Friday, Feb. 10, and Saturday, Feb. 11, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $16 to $20. The same cast will also perform a staged reading of Montague + Capulet, an original sequel to the Shakespeare classic, at the Belknap Mill (25 Beacon St. in Laconia) on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. Tickets to that show cost $10.

• March film fest: Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival, which will run Thursday, March 16, through Sunday, March 26, at locations in Manchester, Bedford, Keene, Concord, Portsmouth and Hooksett. The festival will include 11 feature-length films and a five-film shorts program, according to nhjewishfilmfestival.com, where you can purchase tickets for individual shows ($12) or for an all-access package ($200). Of the features, six will be screened in theaters and five can be streamed at home, the website said. From Monday, March 17, through Sunday, April 16, four of the films shown in theaters will be available to be viewed at home. See trailers for the feature films and the shorts on the festival website.

• More in movies: Speaking of film, catch a silent film from the end of the silent film era about wealth near the end of the Roaring ’20s — The Smart Set(1928) starring William Haines and Alice Day will screen Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center (39 Main St. in Plymouth; flyingmonkeynh.com). The screening will be accompanied by live music performed by Jeff Rapsis. Tickets cost $10.

The 39 Steps
The Community Players of Concord will present The 39 Steps, a comedy based on the Alfred Hitchock thriller from 1935, on Friday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St. in Concord). Tickets cost $20, $18 for students and seniors, and are available at communityplayersofconcord.org.

• Audition call for grades 2 to 12: The Palace Youth Theatre is presenting a small cast production of Into the Woods (it will run at the Rex Theatre in Manchester April 3 and April 4) and will hold auditions on Monday, Feb. 13, with times at 5, 6 and 7 p.m. at Forever Emma Studios (516 Pine St. in Manchester), according to a press release. Auditioners will be expected to stay for their entire one-hour slot; come prepared to sing a musical theater song and then learn a dance to perform, the release said. The audition is open to kids in grades 2 through 12. To schedule an audition, email [email protected] with the performer’s name, age and preferred audition time, the release said.

• Auditions for adults: The Community Players of Concord are holding open auditions for their May show Not A Word, a new comedy written and directed by longtime Players member Wallace J. Pineault, according to a press release. The show will feature a cast of nine and a story about movies in the 1920s before sound entered the picture, the release said. The auditions are scheduled for Monday, Feb. 20, and Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Players Studio (435 Josiah Bartlett Road in Concord), the release said. Rehearsals will begin in March; see the script, character list, audition information and more at communityplayersorconcord.org/auditions.

• Remember CDs? The Friends of the Dover Public Library (which is at 73 Locust St. in Dover) are holding a CD sale through Saturday, Feb. 11, to sell off the library’s music collection, which it is discontinuing, according to a press release. The sale (which started Feb. 5) features CDs for $2 (with boxed sets specially marked) in genres including rock, country, classical, world, pop, jazz, folk and bluegrass, soundtracks and children’s music. The library is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.

• Exhibit in color: The Franklin Gallery at RiverStones Custom Framing (33 N. Main St. in Rochester; 812-1488) will host an exhibit in February featuring the work of Madison resident John Girourard, according to a press release. “Girouard’s current body of work consists of vividly depicted abstract paintings that use strong, bold colors in a mixed medium that delight in swirling movement. Thickness and transparency of the media, allow the works to retain qualities of depth and liquidity even after drying. Each canvas possesses layers of pure, rich color and thick undulating texture that capture light by visually traveling through the painting. Swirling strokes and flow of color give the pieces a living moving appearance that assumes a decorative splendor,” the release said. See the exhibit Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Author to author: Rebecca Makkai will discuss her new murder mystery I Have Some Questions for You with Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We Keep, at the Music Hall Lounge (131 Congress St. in Portsmouth; themusichall.org) on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. The discussion will include a Q&A, according to a press release. Tickets cost $45 and include a copy of Makkai’s book.

The Art Roundup 23/02/02

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

• Last call for Piano Men:The Palace Theatre’s ode to the music of Billy Joel, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Freddie Mercury, The All New Piano Men, wraps up its run this weekend with shows Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 5, at 2 p.m. The show is an original production of Carl Rajotte, artistic director at the Palace (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588), according to the website. Tickets start at $25.

• Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome: Also at the Palace in Manchester this weekend, the Palace Teen Apprentice Company production performed by student actors ages 12 through 18, will present Cabaret on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15 for adults. See palacetheatre.org.

• Disney’s next generation: The Riverbend Youth Company will present a tale of the kids of Disney villains in The Descendants: The Musical, based on the Disney Channel movies, at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts (56 Mont Vernon St. in Milford; amatocenter.org) on Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 5, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets cost $12 for adults, $8 for children and seniors.

• Get all shook up: Local artists will perform the songs of one Elvis Aaron Presley at “A Night of Elvis,” a variety show featuring songs, skits and more, at the Majestic Theatre (88 Page St. in Manchester; 669-7469, majestictheatre.net) on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $20.

• New show — and a slate of concerts: The Two Villages Art Society (Bates Building, 846 Main St. in Contoocook; twovillagesart.org) will present a new show — the work of The Secretive and Mysterious Order of the Crimson Sparrow — opening Thursday, Feb. 2, and running through Sunday, Feb. 19. Ty Meier, an artist and member of the Society’s board of directors, organized and curated the show and describes the 14 artists (which include painters, printmakers, illustrators and sculptors) as “a scrappy group of underground art ninjas,” according to a press release. The gallery is open Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

On Saturdays Feb. 11, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. the gallery will also host concerts featuring light refreshments (donations will be accepted at the door), the release said. The schedule includes Ariel Strasser (a Boston-based Minnesotan singer, songwriter and piano player) on Feb. 11, The Honeybees (Mary Fagan and Chris O’Neill with original songs, 1930s era jazz, Western swing, folk-rock and Americana) on Feb. 18 and Hydro-Geo-Trio (featuring George Holt, Dave McLean, Dan Morrissey and Mitch Simon with blue grass and new-grass) on Feb. 25, the release said.

• Small works and a silent auction: The New Hampshire Art Association’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery (136 State St. in Portsmouth; nhartassociation.org) will hold its annual fundraiser silent auction scheduled to have started Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the gallery and online, according to a press release. The auction will run through Feb. 19. The gallery is also hosting a “Small Works” exhibit featuring works 8 inches by 8 inches or 8 inches by 10 inches, the release said.

• Underground Russian art: Moscow-born Nickolay Manulov, 88, now a resident of New Hampshire, will have his works and pieces by his wife, Ludiya Kirillova, displayed at the Mariposa Museum (26 Main St. in Peterborough; mariposamuseum.org), which is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is also having an artist reception for Manulov, known as “Kuk,” with a Q&A discussion on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 2 p.m. Admission to that event is $10. Manulov’s art, and that of his late wife, was illegal during the time of Stalin and wasn’t allowed to be exhibited in official venues even after Stalin’s death, according to a press release. Kuk emigrated during the Russian invasion of Crimea, bringing his and his wife’s work with him, the release said.

• Dream the impossible dream: The Seacoast Repertory Theatre (125 Bow St. in Portsmouth; seacoastrep.org, 433-4472) will present the musical Man of La Mancha, Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m. through Sunday, March 5. The show follows Don Quixote, a man who lives in a fantasy world of his own creation that baffles everyone he meets but changes the world for the better and inspires those around him, according to a press release. This show contains adult themes including violence. Tickets start at $35 and can be purchased at seacoastrep.org

• One-woman show: The Pontine Theatre will present guest artist Tannis Kowalchuk and her original one-woman show Decompositions at the Pontine’s 1845 Plains Schoolhouse Theatre (1 Plains Ave. in Portsmouth; pontine.org) on Friday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2 p.m. A Feb. 5 show is sold out but an online show is available (it is accessible about a week after the performance, according to the website. Tickets cost $29. In the song-filled multimedia production Kowalchuk performs monologues and stories exploring the composting process as a metaphor for life, according to a press release.

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!