For a play that is set in the late 17th century and debuted on Broadway in 1953, The Crucible remains timely.
Bryan Halperin, director of an upcoming production opening Oct. 11 at Laconia’s Colonial Theatre, explained The Crucible‘s enduring quality in a recent phone interview.
“It’s a meaty drama about the seedier elements of human nature, a gripping, exciting, dramatic play about power, greed and lust,” he said. “It’s got elements of all the deadly sins.”
Because it deals with the Salem Witch Trials, Arthur Miller’s Tony-winning work is frequently staged in October, but The Crucible is far from a Halloween show. Rather, it’s about power, and how even a small taste can affect those who do not have it.
Throughout, Miller blends the historical record and dramatic license, beginning with the basic fact of four women accused of witchcraft after they’re caught dancing in the woods. In prisoner’s dilemma fashion, they turn against each other.
Tituba, a slave, claims to be a victim of a curse cast by two members of the group. She’s egged on by the men investigating, and the ringleader, Abigail Williams, goes along with her story, hoping to cover up that the event was born from her lover’s jealousy.
Approval from the town fathers changes the dynamic “They’re afraid of going to hell for sinning, they’re literally almost scared to death,” Halperin said. “Suddenly it gets turned around to, ‘All we’ve got to do is say what they want us to say, and we won’t get in any trouble; we’ll be praised for it.’ That’s a very powerful drug.”
Miller drew on a 20th-century “witch hunt” when he wrote The Crucible: the Senate hearings held to root out communism led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. Some versions of the play are explicit about this element and include a narration comparing the Puritan era to post-WWII America.
Halperin sees the parallels. “Watching how society can quickly break down in a fit of hysteria when people learn to use the system for their own gain, at the expense of their friends and neighbors,” he observed, is “gripping for 1692, and it’s equally gripping for 2024 — as it was in 1954.”
The Crucible is Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative’s first stage play after a year and a half of doing musicals. Leading the cast are Kenny Aber as John Proctor, Laura Iwaskiewicz as his wife Elizabeth, and Amanda Wagner as Abigail, an orphan and former servant who was sent away after she had an affair with John.
Wagner is a St. Louis-born actress who moved to New Hampshire after 10 years working in Los Angeles. She said in a recent phone interview that portraying Abigail has been a goal of hers since reading The Crucible in 10th grade.“She’s a very complex person,” she said. “She’s a villain, but also a victim of her circumstances.”
She offered a take on the question answered earlier by Halperin. “This play feels so timely because groupthink and saying the truth in the face of what the majority is saying even if it’s going to get you killed is a terrifying thing,” she said. “It is strange to me that that’s a lesson that some people don’t want their teenagers taught.”
As a relative newcomer to the region, Wagner enjoys the atmosphere at Powerhouse and she is particularly grateful for its founders, Halperin and his wife, Johanna.
“Everyone is so supportive of one another,” she said. “Some of the actors have to go into some dark places, but Bryan does a good job of keeping things light. I always leave rehearsal with a smile on my face and feeling exhilarated, albeit tired. I want to give props to the company for doing some incredibly professional-level work.”
The Crucible When: Friday, Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 13, 2 p.m. Where: Colonial Theatre, 609 Main St., Laconia Tickets: $18 to $22 at etix.com
Featured image: Abigail Williams (Amanda Wagner) begs John Proctor (Kenny Aber) to give her a kind word. Courtesy photo.
Arts tours, vineyard visits, historic sites and more half-day road trip ideas
Take a tour
Meet the artists and craftspeople and their community with a self-guided tour
By Zachary Lewis zlewis@hippopress.com
Demystify oil painting, sculpting and more by venturing out on one of the many studio tours offered by art communities in New Hampshire this fall.
The Monadnock Art/Friends of the Dublin Art Colony Open Studio Tour is the perfect event at which to see artists in their natural habitat.
Sue Weller, president of the board of the Monadnock Art Tour, is impressed by “the amazing art that just flows through this event.”
“It’s really been a privilege to be working with so many wonderful people,” Weller said. “We have an amazing board. It’s all volunteer. Everybody works really hard to pull this event off,” she said.
Many artists moved to the Monadnock region during the mid-19th century. “I think they gravitated because of the presence of Mount Monadnock and its power and allure, and so we had watercolorists and oil painters and all kinds of artists come to the Dublin area,” Weller said. Abbott Handerson Thayer was an important figure that the artists wanted to learn from as well.
“In 1995 this group of folks, local artists in the Dublin area, got together, became Monadnock Art, Friends of the Dublin Art Colony, and they started to open their studios and create this beautiful tour so that the art appreciation of this area would continue,” Weller said.
This is their 28th year, with 65 studios and more than 80 artists for visitors to see.
Rose Lowry does marketing for the organization and explains the tour process: “It’s free,” Lowry said. “It’s a self-guided tour. So people either find us online and use the map that’s online. And then we have … 10,000 brochures. Practically dropped them from airplanes, you know, put them in stores and post offices just to get the word out.”
Jessie Pollock in her studio as part of the Monadnock Art Open Studio Tour. Photo by Lipofsky Photography.
“Rose does this amazing job of putting this map together…,” Weller said. “You could use GPS now or, you know, just sort of follow the written map and go and see the artists in their working studios, and talk to them and get a sense of what their inspiration is and how they communicate, how they work, how they do their art. It’s just really extraordinary.”
“We get people from all over the country, literally,” Lowry said.
Weller agreed: “Yeah, and it’s really neat because we basically cover these seven towns of Harrisville, Dublin, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon, Marlborough, Jaffrey.”
“There are these beautiful orange maple leaf signs that say Art Tour and the dates,” Weller said, “which are Oct. 12 through the 14th. And then each of the studios has a very unique black and white sign that has the studio number on it so … the drivers can easily follow those signs to the studio. So it’s really fun. You get to drive down roads you probably have never been at before and all of a sudden there’s this wonderful studio that is open to you.”
Another art tour takes place via the Center for the Arts. This year that tour is on Saturday, Oct. 12, and Sunday, Oct. 13.
“We love to offer open studios to our community,” said Dena Stahlheber, the Executive Director of the Center for the Arts. “Our particular organization, our nonprofit, serves the 12 towns surrounding and including New London. But we promote, support and connect our artists of all ages in the literary, performing and visual arts arenas to enrich our community through the arts.”
Stahlheber says she is “always surprised and amazed by the talent that lives here and loves to work here. So it’s really just a joy to be a part of it.” Besides New London, studios included in the tour will be in Andover, Sunapee, Danbury, Bradford and Springfield. Some artists will be sharing studios as well. “We have, at this year’s Open Studios … 14 different artists across the towns that we serve. And most of them are home studios. Some of them are coming to a shared location. But it’s a great way for our community to see the creative inspiration, the place in which our artists are getting inspired, making their art.”
Why would people be interested in checking out one of the studios?
“You get to ask questions, to ask about their approach, look at the different types of things they’re doing, see the creative spaces,” Stahlheber said. “Some of the home studios are stunning. Some of these have been built up over the years and are just amazing. And I think it’s really fun if you enjoy arts and creativity to see the different ways artists and people, you know, approach it.”
Depending on how much of a scenic fall road trip is in the cards, participants can cover a lot of ground. “It’s free to the public, which is wonderful. And, you know, depending on where you live, some of the artists may be closer, and some may be a little bit farther, but people can pick and choose where they want to go and when between the hours that are noted, depending on the time period.”
Deerfield Arts also puts on a tour of various studios in Deerfield. On their website they mention how every year “the artists and craftspeople of Deerfield, New Hampshire, offer the Deerfield Arts Tour — a self-guided open house tour of our studios and work.” In total there are 13 different locations and 21 different artists that participants could expect to visit if they decided to see every spot on the map.
The Deerfield Arts Tour has taken place every year since 2003 and is made up of artists who live or work in Deerfield, many having been recognized throughout the state for the high caliber of their work, according to the same website. Participants in the tour represent a mix of contemporary and traditional styles and a variety of media.
In November, the Route 3 Art Trail Tour, an effort by Twiggs Gallery and others, will run Saturday, Nov. 2, at 17 locations in Concord, Pembroke, Boscawen and Franklin, according to the event’s Facebook page. See route3arttrail.com for the map to this event.
All these art tours will include various styles. Among others, you can see potters, sculptors, photographers, textile artists, painters using different media, glass artists, wood turners and furniture makers.
Rose Lowry summation of the Monadnock Art Open Studio tour applies to them all.
“It’s absolutely beautiful and you go to the cute little towns,” Lowry said. “It’s a great journey.”
Hit the road with these tours
Center for the Arts Open Studios When: Saturday, Oct. 12, and Sunday, Oct. 13 Towns: New London, Andover, Sunapee, Danbury, Bradford, and Springfield More info: centerfortheartsnh.org
The Monadnock Art Open StudioTour/Friends of the Dublin Art Colony When: Saturday, Oct. 12, through Monday, Oct. 14 Towns: Harrisville, Dublin, Hancock, Peterborough, Sharon, Marlborough, Jaffrey More info: monadnockart.org
New Hampshire Wool Arts 41st Annual Tour When: Saturday, Oct. 12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 13, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Towns: Antrim, Bennington, Deering, Greenfield, Lyndeborough (each location is a farm and also features other artists and craftspeople) More info: woolartstournh.com
Deerfield Arts Tour When: Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20 More info: deerfieldarts.com
Route 3 Art Trail Tour When: Saturday, Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Towns: Concord, Pembroke, Boscawen, Franklin More info: route3arttrail.com
One passport, 21 museums
NH Heritage Museum Trail welcomes visitors
By Zachary Lewis zlewis@hippopress.com
The New Hampshire Heritage Museum Trail Passport Program allows visitors to experience 21 different museums. Each passport is valued at $150 but they are available for purchase at participating museums for only $30, according to the program’s website.
Specifically, the Trail Passport provides buyers with one admission ticket to each of those 21 museums that are part of the museum trail. The Passport is good for one person for one year from the date of purchase, and it’s non-transferable. The Passport includes brief summaries of the museums organized by location and category and can be stamped upon entry.
According to the website, each member museum is recognized as a significant cultural institution that preserves and promotes an understanding and appreciation of a shared national and state heritage.
The 21 museums combined present 300 years of history by hosting more than 100,000 historical artifacts, which are viewed by over 200,000 patrons every year, according to the same website.
NH Heritage Museum Trail
Passport cost: $30 More info: nhmuseumtrail.org/passport
Participating museums: Albacore Park (Portsmouth, ussalbacore.org) American Independence Museum (Exeter, independencemuseum.org) Aviation Museum of NH (Londonderry, aviationmuseumofnh.org) Canterbury Shaker Village (Canterbury, shakers.org) Castle in the Clouds (Moultonborough, castleintheclouds.org) Currier Museum of Art (Manchester, currier.org) Lake Winnipesaukee Museum (Laconia, lwhs.us) Lee Scouting Museum (Manchester, scoutingmuseum.nhscouting.org) Libby Museum of Natural History (Wolfeboro, libbymuseum.org) Millyard Museum (Manchester, manchesterhistoric.org) Moffatt-Ladd House & Garden (Portsmouth, moffattladd.org) Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum (Warner, indianmuseum.org) Museum of the White Mountains (Plymouth State University in Plymouth, plymouth.edu/mwm) NH Boat Museum (Wolfeboro, nhbm.org) NH Historical Society (Concord, nhhistory.org) New England Racing Museum (Loudon, nemsmuseum.com) Portsmouth Historical Society (Portsmouth, portsmouthhistory.org) Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm (Tamworth, remickmuseum.org) Strawbery Banke Museum (Portsmouth, strawberybanke.org) Woodman Museum (Dover, woodmanmuseum.org) Wright Museum of World War II (Wolfeboro, wrightmuseum.org)
History with UFOs and Ninja Turtles
Driving through time with roadside historical markers
By John Fladd jfladd@hippopress.com
Francestown used to be famous for its soapstone. There used to be a double-decker bridge over the river in Suncook. Horace Greeley, the owner and founder of the New York Tribune, presidential candidate, and one of the fathers of westward expansion, was born in Milford in 1811. Colonel John Goffe didn’t actually live in Goffstown. You could spend a day or so in a research library learning these things; alternatively, you could read about them on roadside historical markers.
Historical Marker 0148, overlooking the baseball diamond in White Park in Concord. Photo courtesy of the Historical Highway Markers App.
According to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (dot.nh.gov) there are more than 16,000 miles of roads and highways in New Hampshire. It’s very difficult to drive for any distance in the state without seeing a green historical marker on the side of the road as you drive by. The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources (nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov), the agency responsible for the markers, says there are more than 200 of them, spread across the state.
Michael Bruno is an expert in New Hampshire’s roadside historical markers. He is the author of Cruising New Hampshire History: A Guide to New Hampshire’s Roadside Historical Markers. He said that documenting the state’s markers involved traveling to every part of New Hampshire.
“I started [visiting the markers] in late 2015,” Bruno remembered, “and published in May of 2018. … I visited every marker at that time. There were 255. I visited every marker, photographed it, GPS tagged it, and then did a back story, learning a little bit more than the 12 to 14 lines of text that you had on the marker.”
The State of New Hampshire has been placing historical markers since the 1950s.
“It’s pretty amazing that the legislation happened in 1955,” Bruno said, “and by 1958 four markers were in place in the state.” One of the first three markers marked Horace Greeley’s birthplace near Milford. “That marker has like 35 words on the whole marker,” Bruno said. “It’s amazing that the story of a guy who founded the New York Tribune is on a marker with 35 words.”
Bruno hears from a lot of people who use his guide to take road trips from marker to marker, across the state. He thinks the Covid epidemic was a turning point in public interest in the markers.
“[During lockdown] people needed something to do,” he said. “I remember this one couple from somewhere in Sullivan County.” They emailed Bruno. “They were like, ‘We’re supposed to go to Florida, we can’t go.’ So they had a Mazda Miata and they would pack a picnic every day and go visit markers. Every day was a journey. The lady wrote to me and said, ‘I learned so much about our state. I didn’t realize I had so much history in my own community and region.’ So it was kind of eye-opening.”
New Hampshire’s historical markers are not limited to the birthplaces of Revolutionary War figures, or obscure architecture. Animator, film maker and historical marker enthusiast Griffin Hansen (youtube.com/user/Gruppetstudios) was the force behind placing a historical marker near a manhole cover in Dover to commemorate the origin of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who first appeared in a comic book written there. (Dover, not the manhole.) Hansen and his co-director Anna Chavez worked together to get approval from the State for the marker. He explained that getting permission from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources (nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov) is a three-part process. “One, get 25 signatures from people in New Hampshire, Two, write up the text that you want for the marker. And this is a new one, but the third one is to get the town’s approval as well. The town’s permission is a new thing. We didn’t get that permission because our marker was installed last year but it actually got approved a long time before that.”
Hansen speculated that the reason for the addition of the town approval part of the process is rooted in last year’s Elizabeth Gurley Flynn controversy. In May 2023, the Concord-located marker for Flynn was removed shortly after being installed after receiving opposition from some on the New Hampshire Executive Council. According to a press release at the time from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources Flynn, who was born in Concord in 1890, was “a well-known labor, women’s rights and civil liberties activist.” Identifying Flynn as “The Rebel Girl,” the marker highlighted Flynn’s involvement in the labor movement and her imprisonment after joining the Communist Party, according to Hippo coverage from last year. According to Wikipedia, Flynn died in the Soviet Union in 1964 and received a state funeral in Red Square before her body was sent to Chicago for burial.
Hansen said that in his experience the marker approval process takes about a year.
“I run an organization that I founded, which installs historical markers across the country,” he said, “and we actually use the same historical marker manufacturer as the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, so that is actually very timely for them to only take a year.”
Hansen’s personal favorite marker is in Lincoln.
“The greatest marker in the state of New Hampshire — ask anybody — is going to be the Betty and Barney Hill marker,” he said. The Hills reported being abducted by extraterrestrials near Lincoln in 1961. “I have had a lot of people tell me that they’re very thankful that Anna and I put up a historical marker for the Ninja Turtles and they think it’s really cool, they think it adds to the culture, and I’m very flattered, but I do not have any illusions about the fact that it will never be as cool as the UFO historical marker, which I am proud to cede the throne to.”
Guide to markers Cruising New Hampshire History: A Guide to New Hampshire’s Roadside Historical Markers by Michael Bruno (Lloyds Hill Publishing, 2018) can be found in many New Hampshire libraries or purchased online.
10 Historical Road Markers
Marker 0110, Concord, Ratification of the Federal Constitution, on the corner of Church and Bouton streets. There was suspense and drama surrounding New Hampshire’s decision to ratify the Constitution. The state’s approval ultimately provided the two-thirds majority needed to adopt it. This is one of Michael Bruno’s favorite markers.
Marker 0184, Bow, Turkey Pond – 1938 Hurricane, Route 13, approximately 0.7 miles from the Bow Town Line. In 1938 New England was struck by a Category 3 Hurricane that decimated towns and forests across the region. Some forests have not yet completely recovered.
Marker 0208, Manchester, St. Mary’s Bank Credit Union/La Caisse Populair Sainte-Marie, 418-420 Notre Dame Ave., Manchester, in front of the America’s Credit Union Museum (acumuseum.org). Appealing to enthusiasts of credit unions and Franco-American history, this marker has two sides, one in English and one in French.
Marker 0126, Derry, Robert Frost, Route 28, 1.7 miles south of the Derry Rotary. Legendary poet Robert Frost lived and farmed in Derry between 1900 and 1911.
Marker 0166, Londonderry, Londonderry Town Pound, Route 128 (Mammoth Road) and Old Stage Road. “Stray farm animals were confined here by elected ‘pounders,’ or reeves, until ransomed by their owners.”
Marker 0072, Salem, Mystery Hill, Route 28, south of Route 111. This marker describes America’s Stonehenge.
Marker 0221, Salem, Armenian Settlement, Cross Street at the intersection of Brady Road, near the Armenian Church. One of the often forgotten stories of New Hampshire’s immigrant past is that of Armenians who settled here after fleeing persecution in Europe.
Marker 0271, Brookline, Fresh Pond Ice Co., Route 13. Before electric refrigeration, Northern New England supplied ice to sweaty people around the world. At its peak the Fresh Pond Ice Co. employed 250 people and harvested 100,000 tons of ice each year.
Marker 0132, Hooksett, New Hampshire Canal System, Merrimack Street and Lambert Town Park. In their day, before the coming of the railroads, canals were a state-of-the-art method of transporting cargo. This marker describes some of New Hampshire’s canals and the artifacts of them that can still be seen.
Marker 0143, Weare, East Weare Village, Route 77 and South Sugar Hill Road. East Weare used to be a town. Now it’s under water. According to its marker, it “was sacrificed for the Everett Flood Control Project” in 1960.
10 visits gets you a sticker! The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources website (nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov) has a link to a free computer/smartphone app to locate any NHDHR-approved historical marker. It can be used on a desktop computer or bookmarked for use on a phone.
Dashing through merlot
Jingle Bells Winery tour is becoming a holiday tradition
By John Fladd jfladd@hippopress.com
If you’re looking for a low-stress, fun way to explore New Hampshire this fall, Beth Waite thinks wine might be the answer. Waite is the General Manager of Averill House Vineyard in Brookline and one of the creators of the Jingle Bells Winery Tour.
Wine and snacks. Courtesy photo.
“The tour is a really great adventure,” she said, “for our guests to tour New Hampshire and visit 15 participating [wineries] throughout New Hampshire and be able to sample four different wines from each catalog. This is actually a seven-week self-guided tour.”
Waite said the tour was designed to allow small groups to celebrate and enjoy each other’s company.
“This is meant for friends and families and wine lovers. A great opportunity to get out and, you know, enjoy the holiday season with each other,” she said.
Each winery will provide each Tour guest with a flight of four of its wines, a snack and a holiday ornament. Waite said the snack is important as a palate-cleanser between wines but also provides an insight into how different wines pair with food.
“There are some really fun options that some of the wineries do,” she said. “I know our customers’ favorite is over at Flag Hill Winery — they’ll do a meatball, or there might be more of a sweet option, like chocolate. So the snacks vary, depending on the location.”
Different wineries will showcase their wines in different ways.
“Here at Averill House Vineyard, we do a kind of an ala carte [tasting],” Waite said.”So the customer gets to choose which option they want to taste. And our menu can range about 30 different styles of wines, going from your whites to your reds to your sweets. And one of my favorite things that we do is we serve it with a cookie.”
As the Jingle Bells Tour becomes an established end-of-year event, Waite said, more and more people have been writing it into their calendars.
“The biggest thing is that families that are starting with us and they’re starting new traditions,” she said. “That’s been something I’ve been noticing over the previous years, that we’re getting repeat customers from all over, whether that’s Maine or Connecticut, Rhode Island, and especially us here in New Hampshire. And the event grows each year, you know, so this year we’re hoping to see about 700 participants coming through.”
Jingle Bells Winery Tour
When: Saturday, Nov. 16, through Sunday, Dec. 29. Wineries will be open for the Tour Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Some wineries will have additional hours.
Tickets: A single ticket costs $65; a couples ticket is $125. Tickets are available at eventbrite.com; find a link on the event’s Facebook page. Guests will be able to sample a tasting flight of four wines from each of the participating locations. They will also get a snack and an ornament.
Candice DeAngelis, a Spanish teacher at Bedford High School, was named New Hampshire’s 2025 Teacher of the Year, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Education. DeAngelis, who was picked from a pool of 331 nominees, has taught for 18 years and has worked as a Spanish teacher in Bedford since 2016; before that she worked at Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston and in a temporary position at Londonderry High School, the release said.
The release quoted Superintendent Mike Fournier of the Bedford School District as saying that “Her dedication to creating a positive and nurturing environment makes her a true asset to our school district. She is not only a treasure to our community, but also an inspiration to every student she teaches.”
Fire prevention
New Hampshire’s State Fire Marshal Office urges residents to check their smoke alarms as part of the National Fire Protection Association’s Fire Prevention Week, which runs through Saturday, Oct. 12, according to a press release. The NFPA reports that smoke alarms reduce the risk of dying in a house fire by 54 percent and that nationally 60 percent of fire deaths happen in home with “either no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms,” the release said. In New Hampshire, 63 percent of fatal home fires have “no working smoke alarms or inadequate coverage” the release said. Smoke alarm safety tips include installing smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on each level of a home; testing smoke alarms at least once a month (using the test button) and replacing all smoke alarms when they are 10 years old, the release said. See fpw.org for more.
EEE news
A fifth New Hampshire resident tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis and later died, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services reported, according to an Oct. 4 story at WMUR.com. The person is described as an adult from Danville, the story said. All five of the residents who tested positive for EEE got sick in August, the story reported. Find more information on EEE and other mosquito-borne illnesses at dhhs.nh.gov — under “Programs and Services” choose “Disease Prevention” and then “Infection Diseases,” where information on EEE includes a regularly updated Arboviral Risk map of the state.
Charge up
Foxfire Property Management’s Storrs Street parking lot in downtown Concord received a new EV charging station, installed in August, according to a press release from Revvit, the Somerville, Mass.-based climate tech startup. The EV station is part of an initiative that “aims to make EV charging more accessible and efficient by deploying Revvit’s Level 1 charger, purpose-built for long-dwell parking environments such as workplaces, airports, hotels, and more,” the release said. According to the release, “Revvit’s chargers … require no apps or QR codes — drivers can begin charging within seconds by entering a manual code, similar to a garage door opener.” See revvit.net.
Tech help
The United Way of Greater Nashua has launched Tech Help United, “a new initiative aimed at improving digital literacy across our community,” according to a press release. The program is “designed to help individuals who struggle with technology gain essential digital skills, enabling them to access vital services,” the release said.
The program is looking for community partners and volunteers including digital navigators, to work with individuals who need tech help (no advanced tech knowledge is needed; full training will be provided) and community locations (local agencies, community centers and faith communities who can provide space for digital help to be offered), the release said. Those interested in volunteering or providing a host location are asked to contact Sara Ceaser at sceaser@unitedwaynashua.org or 882-4011.
Top value
University of New Hampshire was ranked No. 7 “Best Value” public university in the country (No. 56 best value among all universities) in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report, according to a UNH Today report. This is the second consecutive year UNH ranked No. 7 and the fourth consecutive year it ranked “the No. 1 best value public university in New England,” the report said. See unh.edu/unhtoday.
Historic preservation
The Concord Preservation Advocates are hosting an informal gathering on Tuesday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Feathered Friend Brewing, 231 S. Main St. in Concord, to “celebrate local historic preservation successes, connect with others, and share ideas for future networking events,” according to an email. Concord Preservation Advocates’ Facebook page describes them as a “network of people who value the historic character of Concord” and says they “aim to make historic preservation a priority and use it to bring history to life.” The event is free (cash bar) with light refreshments and soft drinks and brief presentations on nearby historic landmarks at 5:45 p.m. — “Bring your ideas and a jacket. Plan to be in an outdoor space if the weather cooperates,” the email said. RSVP to tinyurl.com/POSOct15 by Sunday, Oct. 13.
Author and photographer Jon Waterman will present his book Into the Thaw: Witnessing the Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord on Monday, Oct. 21, at 6:30 p.m. At this free event, New Hampshire author Richard Adams Carey, a professor emeritus of SNHU, will be in conversation with Waterman. See gibsonsbookstore.com.
Herbalist, teacher and director at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community Betsy Golon will speak to the Manchester Garden Club on Thursday, Oct. 17, at noon at St. Hedwig Church Hall in Manchester. Guests are welcome. See manchesternhgardenclub.weebly.com.
Actor Alan Ruck, known for his roles in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Succession among others, will be the featured speaker at the New Hampshire Film Festival in Portsmouth and will appear for a conversation followed by audience Q&A at the Music Hall on Friday, Oct. 18, at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $45. See themusichall.org.
Meet a Harris’ hawk and see it on the wing while experts from Monadnock Falconry answer questions at the bandshell in Nashua’s Greeley Park on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 2 to 4 p.m., hosted by Nashua Public Library. See nashualibrary.libcal.com.
It’s a long-accepted truth that any New England comedian who hopes to make it needs to move, either to New York or Los Angeles. Juston McKinney went west as a young comic. However, when he and his future wife began house-shopping in 2006, the Portsmouth native got pulled back to his home.
“It was the real estate market’s peak, and a two-bedroom in L.A. cost $500,000, so we started looking east,” he recalled by phone recently. “We went to Barstow, California, and then a little further to Nevada…. We ended up in Newmarket, New Hampshire.”
The forced decision turned out to be fortuitous. Nearly two decades later McKinney is among a handful of regional comedians who rarely need to leave town, though he did recently appear in Florida and Minnesota. The comic has two shows coming up at the Palace Theatre on Oct. 5. McKinney likes coming back to the venue in Manchester; he’s filmed two specials there. He describes it as an opera house with an intimate club vibe. “Everyone’s right on top of you and it doesn’t go too high,” he said. “Just the acoustics and the layout … there’s no room I can think of that I like more, let’s put it that way.”
The key to McKinney’s success is twofold: he’s relatable, and he never performs the same show twice. The comic draws from his life for laughs, talking about the relative absurdities of being a father of two boys who are now teenagers, and the ongoing bewilderment of married life.
As the kids have grown, his jokes have evolved. These days he’s a soccer dad who complains about having to drive close to Canada to play a high school team who’s lifted the New England Patriots name and logo. “This far north, trademark law doesn’t apply,” he said on Instagram, adding later, “If Robert Kraft gets an anonymous email … it didn’t come from me.”
Before he started in comedy, McKinney was a deputy sheriff in rural Maine. He had a rough childhood; his mother died when he was young, and his father reacted by retreating into alcoholism. Gratefully, dad’s been sober for many years now, and his past is a source of humor for the comic. “I once got hit by a drunk driver,” he said. “I mean, my dad reached over from the driver’s seat and smacked me.”
Last May, McKinney appeared at TEDx Portsmouth, where he talked about his personal life. “I stepped out of my comfort zone and talked a little bit about my story and my background,” he said. One of his memories was about a show he did in Portsmouth at a restaurant on Islington Street that turned into a humbling night.
“It went pretty good,” he recalled. “Then my dad goes up. He’s got a long gray beard and a red shirt on, and he tries to grab the microphone from the headliner on stage. Two bouncers have to come and pull him off. The headliner just goes, ‘It looks like Santa went on a binge this year.’ It got a huge laugh, bigger than the one I got on stage.”
McKinney took a serious tone at the end of the interview to talk about the problem of sketchy websites selling marked up tickets to his shows. “It’s one of the things that it’s so annoying right now for performers,” he said, adding, “Always go to the venue site, so you pay face value. I’m not worth $100 a ticket… $32.50 and you’ll get your money’s worth. The next time you go see me, it’s gonna feel like you got a deal.”
Juston McKinney When: Saturday, Oct. 5, at 5 and 8 p.m. Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester Tickets: $32.50 at palacetheatre.org
Will Ferrell and longtime friend Harper Steele take a road trip across America in the sweet, hopeful documentary Will & Harper.
Harper Steele was a Saturday Night Live writer, eventually becoming head writer, with Ferrell and is a writer on many of Ferrell’s more delightfully weird projects like the Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption, the Spanish-language Casa de mi Padre and the charming Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. In 2022, Harper sent an email to Ferrell and others coming out as a trans woman. The responses, at least from Will, Harper’s sister and others we meet in this doc, were positive — though we learn Tim Meadows’ initial response was based on his belief that Harper was basically doing a bit (which feels like an occupational hazard for those in the comedy universe trying to make any big personal announcement).
Before transitioning, Harper had been a regular cross-country traveler with a particular fondness for greasy spoons and dive bars. Can she still visit these places now, especially with the current political climate of the country? To find out, she and Will hit the road together, well aware that Will’s famous face will smooth the way but also provide her kind of a testing of the middle-American waters.
Often, but not always, what they find is people who are generally welcoming and even touching at times as they explain exactly what they are doing — visiting the kinds of places Harper has always loved now that she’s transitioned. A bar in Oklahoma becomes kind of a love-fest, with a group of Native men singing for Harper. They are given a large welcome at an Indiana Pacers game — but only later do they discover that the governor who was part of the event was Eric Holcomb, signer of anti-trans bills. A steak dinner in Texas gets weird, though the true vitriol seems to come out later online. In fact generally the true vitriol seems to come out online — though Harper points out that that stuff takes a toll too, a garbage bag of insults and smears that she hauls around in her mind all the time.
Talking about things — the struggles Harper has gone through to get to this happier place, her fears, Will’s questions — also makes up a big part of the movie. The two of them talk with a blend of emotional honesty and vulnerability and, of course because it’s these two, pretty solid comic timing. It makes for a sweet rumination on friendship as well as a raw but hopeful look at how Harper found her full self in late middle age. A
Rated R for language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Josh Greenbaum, Will & Harper is an hour and 54 minutes long and distributed by Netflix, where it is streaming.
Rez Ball (PG-13)
A high school basketball team tries to rally after tragedy in Rez Ball, a winning sports story based on the nonfiction book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation by Michael Powell.
Nataani Jackson (Kusem Goodwind) is the star player of the Chuska Warriors, a high school basketball team from New Mexico. He is barely hanging on after losing his mother and sister in a car accident but even his best friend Jimmy (Kauchani Bratt) doesn’t realize how dark a space he’s in until Jimmy and the rest of the team learn that Nataani has died by suicide. They are heartbroken and also sort of lost as to how to continue their season without Nataani.
Coach Heather Hobbs (Jessica Matten, who I last saw in Dark Winds; streaming now on Amazon Prime!) seems a little lost in her own life — recently dumped, looking but unable to find her next-step job. She resets the team, and by extension herself, by reaching out to a former coach (Ernest Tsosie III) and getting the boys to play the quicker-to-shoot and faster-in-general “rez ball”-style game that will help to tire out opponents. Jimmy, deep in grief and dealing with his mother (Julia Jones), who is struggling with alcoholism, is maybe the hardest to bring around but also the player with the most potential leadership ability.
This movie hits many of the standard beats — team working to bring itself back, playoffs, a rival team — but it tells that story with details that feel specific to these characters and their world. And Rez Ball is filled with excellent performances — from small roles, like Dallas Goldtooth (Reservation Dog’s Spirit) as a sports announcer and Ryan Begay as Nataani’s heartbroken father, to Matten and Jones and all the boys on the team. A
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements including suicide, teen drug/alcohol use,language and some crude references, according to the MPA at filmratings.com. Directed by Sydney Freeland with a screenplay by Sydney Freeland and Sterlin Harjo (creator of the excellent Reservation Dogs; go watch Reservation Dogs on Hulu!), Rez Ball is an hour and 51 minutes long and is distributed by Netflix, where it is streaming.
If Willy Wonka weren’t tied down to one location, his job might look a lot like Christy Charest’s. Charest is the Social Media Manager for the Chocolate Expo, a company that holds convention-sized chocolate parties throughout the Northeast. Her next event will be the New Hampshire Chocolate Expo at the Doubletree Expo Center (700 Elm St., Manchester) on Sunday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Charest said that the goal of a chocolate expo is to introduce people to chocolate producers and chocolate-adjacent crafts, but even more, to help them relax and be happy.
“It’s a way for guests to come and unplug and reconnect with friends and family and just enjoy a chocolate,” she said. “We’re not a typical event where people come and they’re buying food or chocolate or drinks. There are lots of different aspects to the event, including a stage where we have lots of presentations, demonstrations that involve chocolate making, and even special guests. For this [the Manchester] event we have the top Freddy Krueger cosplayer coming. The event takes place on Elm Street. We found that it was very fitting, especially with the time of year.”
Although it is called an Expo, Charest said this event is very much designed for the general public.
“[When guests come in] they’re greeted with giant chocolate fountains — white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate fountains. They can pick their Rice Krispies treats, or chips or strawberries — anything they want. You put it on a skewer and you’re able to dip it right in the chocolate. There’s anything you can imagine. There’s slow-roasted nuts, whoopie pies, macarons, jumbo peanut butter cups, chocolate buns, [and] chocolate covered bacon. [For] children we have a Kid Zone; included with admission for any of the littles is free face painting and balloon twisting.”
She said that the Chocolate Expo is meant to be a memorable experience.
“There are free photo ops as well at all of our events. We have a step-and-repeat banner [photo backdrop] with all of these different photo props — with giant cardboard cutouts of chocolate-dipped strawberries and bonbons and truffles — and we have a photographer that’s there that will take your photos for you at no additional charge.”
Rachel Mack will be one of the exhibitors at the Chocolate Expo. She will also give one of the presentations. “It will be just a short little talk,” she said. “‘I’m going to discuss what goes into making a chocolate bar, but specifically how our cacao comes from all over the world.” She will discuss how her company, Loon Chocolate (195 McGregor St., Manchester), sources local ingredients. “We have a couple of different collaborations that we have with local, other local businesses. [Our ingredients range] from the global cacao bean to local maple sugar — everything that goes into one of our chocolate bars.”
Mack said there is something special about the Chocolate Expo in Manchester.
“There are chocolate expos that we’ve done all over the Northeast,” she said. “We’ve done chocolate expos in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in New York, in New Jersey, and I love the crowd at the New Hampshire one. It is a crush of people who show up. Everyone wants to have fun. Everyone wants to try chocolate and people really like to take time to appreciate the chocolate. I really love that.”
The crowds at expos like this one aren’t made up solely of chocolate connoisseurs.
“It’s just anyone who loves chocolate shows up,” Mack said. “Actually, I shouldn’t even say ‘anyone who loves chocolate.’ There was a guy who came to our booth at an event who had a T-shirt that said ‘I Hate Chocolate.’ We did get him to admit that he’s still not a fan of chocolate but if he had to [eat it] he would like ours.”
The New Hampshire Chocolate Expo When: Sunday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Where: Doubletree Expo Center, 700 Elm St., Manchester. Tickets: General admission “timed-entry” tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children. Late Day Special tickets for admission after 4 p.m. are $10. Online VIP tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children, which allows admittance one hour early. These are available through eventbrite.com. General admission tickets at the door are $30 for adults, and $15 for children.
