Category: Q&A

Ken Burns looks at Leonardo Da Vinci for his latest documentary

Ken Burns lives in Walpole and is an American filmmaker who is well-known for his documentary films and television series on a wide variety of topics ranging from baseball to jazz, from the Roosevelts to the Vietnam War, and much more. His latest, Inside The Mind Of A Genius: Leonardo Da Vinci, a film made by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon, is a two-part four-hour documentary that will air on PBS on Monday, Nov. 18, and Tuesday, Nov. 19, from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. Check local listings and visit pbs.org or kenburns.com.

Theatre Kapow will be starting its 17th season with Life Sucks, a play described as a “brash and revelatory reworking of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.” The show will run Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m. at the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com). The Hippo spoke with Director Matthew Cahoon and Managing Director Carey Cahoon about the upcoming performance and season. Visit tkapow.com.

Your work is typically focused on American themes, so was there any particular reason to make a film on Leonardo da Vinci?

No, I mean, you’re absolutely right. Everything I’ve done for the last 45, 50 years has been in American history. I was working on a film on Benjamin Franklin and I was having dinner with an old friend, Walter Isaacson of the Aspen Institute — then of the Aspen Institute — who happened to be a biographer of Franklin. We’d already interviewed him, and he was terrific for that film. But he had also written a biography of Leonardo. And he spent most of dinner trying to push me into doing Leonardo. And I said, ‘No, I do American stuff.’ And he said, ‘But they’re both scientists and artists and all of this.’ I finally laughed and I happened to be talking to one of my producing teams, and that is led by my daughter, Sarah, and her husband, David McMahon. I said, “but Walter was pushing this, doing Leonardo,” and they said, “We should do Leonardo.” I called Walter the next day and I said, I think there’s people who want to do Leonardo. So I was sort of backed into it, but it was wonderful. Sarah and Dave moved with my two oldest grandchildren to Florence for a year from ’22 to ’23, did all the stuff and we’ve really broken new ground with our kind of visual grammar for this film to help bring alive this person who’s so central to who we are as human beings.

How does film as a medium, as well as the new visual effects, affect the story that you’re able to tell?

Well, I’m working right now, and have been for years and years, on a big history of the American Revolution, which is incredibly challenging because there are no photographs or newsreels. So you’re calibrating new different things. This is a guy who lived in the 1400s and the early 1500s. There are no photographs either. So what we ended up doing is realizing that he was so modern, he was so far thinking, that we could just split the screen, quadruple the screen, have nine panels. We could have modern footage, anticipating the things that he would invent. We could just throw in things and we could have a different kind of soundtrack that would do it. The composer, Caroline Shaw, is the single composer of the entire track, and we don’t usually have that. We usually have multiple different things going on. So it’s kind of exciting and new for us, and at the same time is most definitely one of our films and the style is the same…

Was there anything that you all discovered that you didn’t know about?

Oh, God, everything. We never make films about stuff we know about. That would be … we’d be telling you what you should know. Rather, we’re sharing with you the process of discovery. Everything is amazing. This is a born-out-of-wedlock gay man who is arguably the greatest painter in existence, who has fewer than 20 paintings. Half of them are incomplete. He has thousands of pages of notebooks. He is, as the greatest scientist of his age, without a doubt, prefiguring Galileo and Newton and Einstein. He’s investigating the nature of flight. He’s inventing machines. He does the first, we think, the first landscape in all of Western art. He does the first experimental painting in Western art. He does the first overhead view without the benefit of being up there. He’s just a capacious mind that’s restless. He doesn’t have a microscope. He doesn’t have a telescope. But what he sees with his eye, stuff people are verifying 500 years later. He did experiments on a cow’s heart using silk and grass seed and water to see how the ventricles might work. It wasn’t proven right until we had MRIs in the 1970s.

Was it that he just innately knows certain things?

Not innately. I think it’s all about this curiosity, this sort of demanding of the universe to give up its secrets.

Was there anything you think that he didn’t get to accomplish, that he was trying to do?

Well, you know, he abandoned a lot of paintings, even commissioned paintings, because he just sort of felt like he’d explored all the things he needed to explore, and yet is restless. I think he was always trying to learn how to square the circle, which is that ancient mythological concept.

What would you say to someone who doesn’t know a lot about the Renaissance to get them interested in Leonardo da Vinci?

Well, I think all you have to do is watch the film.

He’s lived such a compelling life. Let me put it in another way. This is a two-part, four-hour film, not that long by binging standards. … You’ll know exactly why [the Mona Lisa] looks the way she looks. And that is one of the great secrets of the universe, which is what he is getting at, this profoundly deep inquiry into the meaning of all of this stuff. Why I’m here, why you’re here, what our purpose is, where we came from, where we might be going, and how things work, you know, in a practical way, he’s an inventor and it’s just wonderful to get to know him.

What are the similarities between Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo Da Vinci?

Ben Franklin is the greatest scientist of the 18th century, he’s certainly the most famous American in the world. He’s also a great artist with his pen, his words, his humor. Leonardo’s a great artist, he’s a great scientist, he’s a great inventor, so there’s lots of similarities. And yet, Leonardo doesn’t tower over him, it’s apples and oranges, and we don’t need to make comparisons but he [Franklin] is so remarkable. Flying a kite and getting an electrical charge to come down the string to a key is a big deal. The Mona Lisa and a half a dozen other paintings are way bigger deals. As are most of the experiments he made about anatomy. First person to really dissect a brain and a skull. I mean, he just did it all. It’s unbelievable.

Was Leonardo received in the same way during his time as he is now? Did people during the Renaissance know how big a deal he was?

I can say he knew that he was without peer, but he published nothing in his lifetime. So all of those images, you know, were discovered later on. All of a sudden they realized he knew everything.

—Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

owner of Vintage 101

Louisa Amirault owns and operates Vintage 101 (292 Route 101 in Amherst), which curates a unique selection of vintage and antique decor, furniture and other accessories for purchase. Visit their Facebook page or call 930-6583.

Explain your job and what it entails.

Basically I sell vintage, antique and unique items.

How long have you had this job?

Since March 23 of this year.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I started out just kind of fixing up and making over old furniture. From there I got into other beautiful old things. Then, with the things that I was able to rescue, I wanted to share them. I had an antique booth for two years at the Milford Market. I needed more space so I opened the shop.

What kind of education or training did you need?

Actually, I had a degree in business and for 20 years I did web design and hosting. I found that I liked more hands-on creativity and that’s how I got into fixing up furniture.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Business casual.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

The most challenging thing for me is having to be in one place for a long period of time. Where I’m the only one working I can’t just leave to take a 10-minute break … but when the day is busy it just flies right by. I have a lot of nice old books I’ve kept myself entertained with.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

That there would be an adjustment period for me to kind of get used to being stuck in the store all the time … being the only employee … but I’m getting better. I had my own business before for 20 years but I could make my own hours.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

The value of the antique and vintage items. To me it’s so special to save these items. People come in and they’re like, ‘They don’t make anything like this anymore,’ and they get it. But some people don’t and I wish more people understood how good this furniture is, how long it lasts, how durable it is. Some of the dishes I have are from the early 1800s … [and they’re] made so well and with so much care.

What was your first job?

My first job ever was when I was 16. I was a waitress at a breakfast place. I liked it.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Just to do something that you enjoy and then it doesn’t feel like work. Having just a little bit of creativity in my job where I can hand-pick the items and I can set up the little vignettes, that gives me joy.

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: Lately I’m very much into the Jane Austen books. Pride and Prejudice, I know that’s kind of girly, I can’t help it.
Favorite movie: Signs
Favorite music: I like all kinds of music but I mostly like ’90s alternative rock like Radiohead, Live, Bush.
Favorite food: Lately I’m really into Indian food.
Favorite thing about NH: The diverse landscape. Everything about the geography is just perfect.

Featured photo: Louisa Amirault. Courtesy photo.

Theatre Kapow and their new season

Marco Notarangelo is the Vectorborne Disease Surveillance Coordinator at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in New Hampshire. He spoke to the Hippo about Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV), what it is and what people in the Granite State can do to stay safe. Visit dhhs.nh.gov for more information.

Theatre Kapow will be starting its 17th season with Life Sucks, a play described as a “brash and revelatory reworking of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.” The show will run Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m. at the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com). The Hippo spoke with Director Matthew Cahoon and Managing Director Carey Cahoon about the upcoming performance and season. Visit tkapow.com.

How have the last 17 years been for Theatre Kapow?

Carey Cahoon: It both seems really fast and kind of unbelievable. I would say that everything in life feels like it’s broken down into the before-Covid years and the with-Covid years. We’ve been going back because we’re redoing our website and looking at photos and reminding ourselves of what shows we did in those early seasons and it’s really been a lot of fun and reminds me of how far we’ve come. Also, it’s a good reminder of why we started doing what we do and what we really love, and I think we stayed true to that.

Can you expand on this year’s season theme of ‘Conversation’ and what it means?

Matthew Cahoon: We like to do shows, we have done a few over the course of 17 years, that have an element of meta-theatricality where there is no fourth wall between the audience and the actor. As we were reading shows this year that theme just kind of kept floating to the surface. All three of our shows this season are very heavy in terms of the audience’s impact on the piece. In the first show there are direct questions to the audience that need to be answered. In the second show there’s actually audience members who are pulled into the show and help the storyteller tell the story. In the third show, again, the veil between the audience and the actors is very thin and there’s this interactivity. When we have conversations with one another we better understand each other. I think that we are in a polarized time and place in our society but when we actually just treat each other like people and have conversations we find we have a lot more in common than we do have differences, so that was the impetus for this season.

Why was Life Sucks chosen to start the season?

CC: Life Sucks is an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. We really like working with pieces of quote ‘classic theater’ unquote. Sometimes that literally means classic theater like from the ancient Greeks but also Strindberg, Ibsen and Chekhov, who are these great European masters of drama. We had done Stupid [F-ing] Bird before, which is another of Aaron Posner’s adaptations of Chekhov, that’s an adaptation of The Seagull. Uncle Vanya is seeing a resurgence, it is everywhere right now. I think there were at least two productions on Broadway this past season; one of them might still be open. There were several productions in London and I think that speaks to that show being very relevant to what’s happening right now in our times and this kind of existential dread, ‘Who am I? How am I going to get through my life?’ The reason I really like Life Sucks is that it’s a contemporary adaptation. The language is very accessible, the language is very funny and we were really drawn to this breaking of the fourth wall that Posner does in this script.

Are there any particular acting schools of thought or disciplines that you all employ?

MC: We really pride ourselves on training being a part of our process. I think what makes us a little bit different is that all of our company members come from different disciplines. Carey has done a lot of work in practical aesthetics and in viewpoints work. Peter, who’s a company member, does a lot of work in Michael Chekhov technique and a little bit of Uta Hagen too. Myself, I came through Double Edge doing some Grotowski-based movement work and more recently some work with the Tectonic Theatre Project and what they call moment work. We kind of play in this witches’ brew of different approaches to making theater, and we hold these open training sessions once a month during which one of us will lead and really explore different approaches. That’s kind of what differentiates Theatre Kapow a little bit, because our actors in the space may be approaching the work from their own comfort zone, from their method. As a total company we’re really trying to incorporate all these different pieces to make the whole stronger.

—Zachary Lewis

Life Sucks
Presented by Theatre Kapow
When: Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m.
Where: Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets: $33.75; $26.75 for students and seniors
Info: tkapow.com and ccanh.com

Note: The show contains “Strong Language, Adult Situations, Gunshots. Recommended for ages 13+.”

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

Health official discusses NH’s mosquito risk

Marco Notarangelo is the Vectorborne Disease Surveillance Coordinator at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in New Hampshire. He spoke to the Hippo about Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus (EEEV), what it is and what people in the Granite State can do to stay safe. Visit dhhs.nh.gov for more information.

What is EEEV and how did this virus come about?

Triple E, also known as Eastern Equine Encephalitis, is an alpha virus that is transmitted by mosquitoes … primarily found in swamps and certain species of birds. It’s not necessarily native to the Northeast but we know it’s been circulating within the Northeast for a couple hundred years. It’s notorious for causing disease in ‘equine’ and perhaps that can lead to some confusion that the pathogen is maintained in horses but that’s not really the case. This is a very rare disease here in the Northeast. Most years we won’t even have detections. In fact, if you look at the data here in New Hampshire for the last 10 full years, only in 2023 do you have a couple of mosquito detections, really toward the end of the mosquito season,

How concerned should people be about EEEV with the recent news? What’s the probability or likelihood that someone would contract this infection?

Triple E is a very rare disease and you might recall in the United States there’s less than 15 cases that are typically reported nationwide. … [A]nd it’s thought that only 1 in 20 infections are actually going to result in individuals developing symptoms. However, what’s particularly concerning about this pathogen is severity. … it’s really thought that a large portion of infections that result in symptoms will result in individuals developing what is called Central Nervous System infections. Some examples of this are inflammation of the brain or inflammation of the membrane surrounding the spinal cord, which can be very severe. … about 30 percent of the individuals that develop this severe form of illness unfortunately do not make it. That’s not really the end of it, it’s also 50 percent of the survivors that have long-term if not lifelong complications and lifelong debilitation resulting from the illness. Although it’s very rare, it’s something that should be kept in mind because it can be a life-altering condition.

Why is EEEV an issue again now?

There is some uncertainty here, but … the current scientific thought on it is that Triple E is not really a pathogen that remains, or the strains of Triple E, surviving in the Northeast over extended periods of time. They may survive over winters for a couple years and then go locally extinct. It’s through their reintroduction from migratory birds that it comes back into the Northeast and causes novel outbreaks. We tend to see cycles with Triple E.

What areas of New Hampshire are most at risk for EEEV infection?

Historically, based on the last about 20 years’ worth of data we have, which is when Triple E has really resurged within our part of the United States, we see that the eastern part of the state, particularly the southeastern part of the state, is the area that most often has Triple E detections, human cases and equine detections. … We have had detections in other parts of the state. On the western side and then we’ve done surveys of deer populations, collecting their blood during the hunting season, and we’ve detected Triple E even in the far north part of the state, so around Coos County. …

What steps can people take to prevent mosquito bites?

The primary concern also lies when we spend time outside in greater mosquito habitats … So we want individuals to take steps such as wearing repellent, wearing protective clothing that makes it more difficult for mosquitoes to bite us, and being cognizant of where mosquitoes are most likely to be and when they’re most likely to be active. For Triple E we are primarily talking about swamp-dwelling mosquito species and unfortunately New Hampshire is very rich in swamp, especially in the southern part of the state. … it is a pathogen that’s more likely to cause severe illness in younger individuals, particularly those under the age of 15, so it’s very important for residents to consider not only their own personal care but also making sure their children are well aware of what they should do to prevent mosquito bites.

What repellants should people use?

Typically, EPA-registered repellents are the ones we are going to recommend, DEET being one of the more common ones. Oil of lemon eucalyptus and of course picaridin being additional options. … You always want to be reading the labels on the actual repellents to make sure that it works and … and is safe for different age groups….

—Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

Bow Garden Club invites you into the garden

Master Gardener Joyce Kimball is the Publicity Chair and former president of the Bow Garden Club and a former president and current executive board member of The New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs. Bow Garden Club maintains 10 “beauty spots,” such as the town gazebo. They generally hold meetings on the second Monday of every month at 6 p.m. starting again on Monday, Sept. 9, with an educational program by Advanced Gardener Ron Trexler from UNH Cooperative Extension, who will speak on preparing gardens for winter. People are encouraged to stop by a meeting to see if they are interested in joining. Kimball spoke about the Bow Garden Club and some end-of-summer garden tips. Visit bowgardenclub.org.

How did the Bow Garden Club get started with the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs?

It’s kind of a nice little story. It was three women from Bow that were just sitting around talking about plants and flowers and they decided to start a garden club. I’m not quite sure, because that was back in 1964, a little before my time, I was alive but I wasn’t part of a club. It was 1964 and it just kind of went from there. They joined the state garden club, which is called New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., which is a consortium of like 18 to 20, I think right now, area garden clubs across the state.

What is the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs?

Every state in the country has a federated garden club and we’re under the umbrella of the national garden club. We have regional and national, so we get out there as far as covering anyone that’s at all interested in plants or anything green. Some people are vegetable gardeners but most are floral gardeners, or both…. We act as ambassadors from the state garden club to go out to the local garden clubs to make them aware of benefits … like learning how to do floral arranging, that kind of thing, things that are available to them through the state organization and sometimes even the national organization. So just a way for people with like minds and interests to get together…

Who can join the Bow Garden Club?

One club may include five or six towns. It all depends on how big they are. Bow, for instance, has 70 members, which is a lot for our size town. Most of them are from Bow. But we also have someone from Manchester, somebody from Derry chose to join us because we’re one of the few that have evening meetings. We have somebody from Pembroke, Concord, and I think that may be it right now. Oh, actually we have one from Australia because our president just went to Australia and she is staying as a member. So we really branch out.

What are a few garden tips for this time of year?

Because [plants have] grown so fast with the heat and the extra water … I would advise people to cut them back. There’s still plenty of time to let them reflower. If they’re looking kind of leggy, as we call them, with long stems, or if the blossoms have gone by you should cut those off anyways to encourage new stems. It’s a little too soon to start cleaning the garden, that shouldn’t happen till October, or as we call it, ‘putting the garden to bed,’ so to speak. That’s when you cut them all down to the ground, but way too early for that. .

What can one expect at a garden club meeting?

Don’t worry about eating because we call it the Food and Garden Club because we can cook as well as we can garden. We have one of our committees, the refreshment committee, people are assigned a certain meeting to come up with a theme and provide the refreshments. I think people come for the food as much as anything else. We don’t meet during July and August, we do other things, we have a ‘Cocktails in the Garden’ we did recently…. We have an educational program at every meeting that starts at 6:30 and usually goes for like an hour.

—Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Courtesy photo.