Category: Q&A

Storytelling Festival features traditional and personal stories, poetry, music

The New Hampshire Theatre Project’s annual Storytelling Festival returns to the stage — and to the screen — on Saturday, April 10, with six storytellers telling traditional and personal tales inspired by the theme “What Are You Waiting For?” The performance will be held for a live audience in person at The Music Hall in Portsmouth and virtually over the live video platform Crowdcast.

“There are several [storytelling series] in the area that honor personal stories in the Moth [Radio Hour] tradition, but in terms of telling different kinds of stories, telling traditional tales and [highlighting] storytelling as an art form, there’s really nothing else like [NHTP’s Storytelling Festival] in the area,” said NHTP executive director Genevieve Aichele, who is hosting and performing at this year’s event.

Featured storytellers will include Boston-based award-winning storyteller Diane Edgecomb, presenting a comedic story from her early acting career; British storyteller and humorist Simon Brooks, performing a traditional tale from northern England; Seacoast jazz musician and entertainer Sharon Jones, sharing a story about a special moment on stage at Portsmouth High School; Seacoast storyteller and emcee Pat Spalding of the storytelling series True Tales Live, aired on Portsmouth Public Media TV, telling tales of her time as a majorette with the Leftist Marching Band; and poet Maya Williams of Portland, Maine, telling stories of suicidality, racial identity, religion and healing through the art of spoken word poetry.

Additionally, world fusion musician Randy Armstrong will perform musical interludes throughout the festival with an eclectic mix of instruments.

“If you like Moth Radio Hour and you want to hear those types of personal stories, there will be some of that, and if you enjoy traditional tales, there will be some of that, too,” Aichele said. “Poetry, music — there’s something in it for everyone.”

Aichele will perform her original adaptation of “The Elephant and the Ant,” a traditional tale from India, with musical accompaniment by Armstrong.

“The music is really part of the storytelling,” she said. “It helps to set the mood and gives it that cultural atmosphere and flavor of the culture where the story begins.”

The theme “What Are You Waiting For?” was inspired, Aichele said, by the innovation of the arts community throughout the pandemic.

“It’s a new world; we can’t do art the way we used to,” she said, “so why not use Covid as an opportunity to reinvent ourselves? What are we waiting for? That’s really what these stories are about — not waiting to act or make a change.”

While experiencing a performance virtually is “not quite the same” as experiencing it in person, Aichele said, there’s still a “feeling of excitement and energy” that comes with watching any kind of live event.

“No matter where you are, you’re there; you’re in the audience,” she said. “You’re a part of that community of people who are seeing this thing happening live, and that can be really exciting.”

New Hampshire Theatre Project’s 5th annual Storytelling Festival
Where: Live in person at The Music Hall Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, and virtual livestream via Crowdcast
When: Saturday, April 10, 8 p.m.
Cost: Tickets cost $36 for the performance at The Music Hall and $15 for the livestream performance
More info: Visit nhtheatreproject.org and themusichall.org

Art

Call for Art

• FIBER ART EXHIBIT The Surface Design Association’s (SDA) New Hampshire Group invites New Hampshire fiber artists to submit work for its upcoming exhibit of fiber art and textiles, “Tension: Process in the Making.” Exhibit will run July 24 through Sept. 4 at Twiggs Gallery (254 King St., Boscawen). Submission deadline is Fri., May 1. Visit twiggsgallery.wordpress.com or call 975-0015.

Classes & lectures

• GENERAL ART CLASSES In-person art classes for all levels and two-dimensional media. held with small groups of two to five students. Private classes are also available. Diane Crespo Fine Art Gallery (32 Hanover St., Manchester). Students are asked to wear masks in the gallery. Tuition costs $20 per group class and $28 per private class, with payment due at the beginning of the class. Call 493-1677 or visit dianecrespofineart.com for availability.

• DRAWING & PAINTING CLASSES Art House Studios, 66 Hanover St., Suite 202, Manchester. Classes include Drawing Fundamentals, Painting in Acrylic, Drawing: Observation to Abstraction, Exploring Mixed Media, and Figure Drawing. Class sizes are limited to six students. Visit arthousestudios.org.

Exhibits

• “BODY OF WORK: SERIES I” New Hampshire Art Association presents an exhibition featuring artwork in a variety of media by eight local artists. On view now through May 2. Online and in person at the NHAA’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, 136 State St., Portsmouth. All works are for sale. Gallery hours are Monday and Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Visit nhartassociation.org or call 431-4230.

• 35TH ANNUAL OMER T. LASSONDE JURIED EXHIBITION The New Hampshire Art Association presents a group art show featuring works in a variety of media by NHAA members and non-members. NHAA’s Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery (136 State St., Portsmouth). On view now through May 30. A virtual opening reception and awards ceremony is planned for Thurs., April 15, at 6:30 p.m. Call 431-4230 and visit nhartassociation.org.

• “THE BODY IN ART: FROM THE SPIRITUAL TO THE SENSUAL” Exhibit provides a look at how artists through the ages have used the human body as a means of creative expression. On view now through Sept. 1. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. Museum admission tickets cost $15, $13 for seniors age 65 and up, and must be booked online. Call 669-6144 or visit currier.org.

• GALLERY ART A new collection of art by more than 20 area artists on display now in-person and online. Creative Ventures Gallery (411 Nashua St., Milford). Call 672-2500 or visit creativeventuresfineart.com.

• “TOMIE DEPAOLA AT THE CURRIER” Exhibition celebrates the illustrator’s life and legacy through a collection of his original drawings. On view now. Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester. Museum admission tickets cost $15, $13 for seniors age 65 and up, and must be booked online. Call 669-6144 or visit currier.org.

Special events

• MAGNIFY VOICES EXPRESSIVE ARTS CELEBRATION Youth artwork showcased to help raise awareness and decrease stigma of mental illness and effect change to ensure social and emotional health for all children in New Hampshire. May, date TBA. Visit tinyurl.com/magnifyvoices2021 or email [email protected].

Theater

Shows

• THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE Filmed live in London 2021. Virtual screening presented by Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. Now through April 11. $25 per ticket. Call 225-1111 or visit ccanh.com.

• DON QUIXOTE Performed by Safe Haven Ballet. Thurs., April 8, and Fri., April 9, 7 p.m. The Music Hall, Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth. Tickets cost $50 for adults and $45 for children, seniors and groups. Visit themusichall.org or call 436-2400.

• THE ART OF CIRCUS Virtual screening presented by Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. Thurs., April 8, 7 p.m., Sat., April 10, 8 p.m., and Sun., April 11, 2 p.m. $25 per ticket. Call 225-1111 or visit ccanh.com.

• FIFTH ANNUAL STORYTELLING FESTIVAL New Hampshire Theatre Project presents. Five storytellers tell traditional and personal tales inspired by NHTP’s 2020 – 2021 MainStage theme “What Are You Waiting For?” Featuring Diane Edgecomb, Pat Spalding, Simon Brooks, Sharon Jones and Maya Williams; with special guest host Genevieve Aichele and musical accompaniment by Randy Armstrong. Sat., April 10, 7 p.m. The Music Hall Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth. Tickets cost $36. Call 431-6644 or visit nhtheatreproject.org.

• KINKY BOOTS Recorded live in London. Virtual screening presented by Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. April 14 through April 21. $15 per ticket. Call 225-1111 or visit ccanh.com.

• COX AND BOX Performed by New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Virtual screening presented by Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. Thurs., April 15, and Fri., April 16, 8 p.m., and Sun., April 18, 2 p.m. $20 per ticket. Call 225-1111 or visit ccanh.com.

• ZOOM PLAY FESTIVAL Presented by Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative and Community Players of Concord. Features short original plays by New Hampshire playwrights. Fri., April 16. Virtual. See Powerhouse Theatre Collaborative on Facebook.

• THAT GOLDEN GIRLS SHOW: A PUPPET PARODY at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) on Sat., April 24, at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $35.

Classical

• CONCORD COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL FACULTY CONCERT Part of Concord’s Walker Lecture Series. Virtual, via Concord TV (Channel 22, or stream at yourconcordtv.org). Wed., April 21. 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Call 333-0035 or visit walkerlecture.org.

Featured photo: Featured storyteller Diane Edgecomb. Courtesy photo.

New Hampshire celebrates National Poetry Month

From writing prompts to readings and workshops, New Hampshire poets and poetry lovers will have all kinds of opportunities throughout April to celebrate National Poetry Month from home.

Now in its 25th year, National Poetry Month is an annual observance created by the Academy of American Poets to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the U.S. Schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers and poets all over the country are encouraged to host special events and activities to promote the literary art form.

In New Hampshire, the month’s festivities are spearheaded by state Poet Laureate Alexandria Peary, in partnership with New Hampshire Magazine, Concord-based publisher Hobblebush Books and others.

Peary has created 30 poetry writing prompts — one for each day in April — that will be posted on New Hampshire Magazine’s website and social media.

The prompts are meant to be “a reflection of the past year,” Peary said, particularly in regard to the pandemic, and will represent a wide variety of poetry styles. They may, for example, challenge participants to write a sonnet that mourns a loss or celebrates a recovery; a narrative poem about a pandemic moment; a persona poem from the perspective of a front-line worker; or an ode to a pandemic-related object.

“They’re just something to get people started,” Peary said. “You could look at the prompts and just see what comes to mind and do a free-write every day, or you could pick just one or two [prompts] and try to write a whole poem — whatever works for you.”

At the end of the month, there will be two free virtual workshops, led by two graduate students interning with Peary, where participants can receive feedback on their poems.

Now through May 15, original poems can be submitted for review and possible publication in an anthology of poetry about the pandemic experience in New Hampshire, to be edited by Peary and published by Hobblebush Books this summer. The anthology is a follow-up to COVID Spring: Granite State Pandemic Poems, published in September 2020, which features original poems submitted by 54 New Hampshire writers, providing “a thirty-day snapshot of what life was like in the Granite State in April of 2020” through topics such as Covid-related “job loss, loneliness and love, masks, social distancing, surreal visitors, uncertainty, graduations deferred, grief, neighborly and less-than-neighborly acts, observing the beginning of the pandemic and making projections about the future, recalibrating or confirming what it means to be human, to be a resident of this region,” Peary said in the anthology’s introduction.

Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, in partnership with Hobblebush Books, will host free virtual poetry readings and conversations every Monday in April. The series will feature Granite State poets Maudelle Driskell, Meg Kearney, Martha Carlson-Bradley, Liz Ahl, Rodger Martin, Henry Walters, Margot Douaihy and Peary.

“[Participating in] one of these events might give you ideas for your own writing,” Peary said, “and I think it could also give you a sense that, with so many opportunities for engagement with the creative writing [community] in the state, it could become a really rich part of your life and social life.”

Peary said this month is a great time for people who are interested in poetry to give writing their own poetry a try, even if it’s short or in fragments.

“It doesn’t need to be something with a complete structure,” she said. “Try to maximize the distance between you and the critics in your head and just jot some stuff down, and be accepting of whatever that is.”

National Poetry Month in New Hampshire
Virtual poetry events and activities will be held throughout April. Visit newhampshirepoetlaureate.blogspot.com and hobblebush.com/national-poetry-month.

Writing workshops
Registration required.
• Sunday, April 25, 3 p.m., moderated by Lily Greenberg
• Tuesday, April 27, 7 p.m. moderated by Brooke Delp

​Readings and conversations with Granite State poets
Weekly, Monday at 7 p.m., through April. Registration required.
• April 5: Maudelle Driskell and Meg Kearney
• April 12: Martha Carlson-Bradley and Liz Ahl
• April 19: Rodger Martin and Henry Walters
• April 26: NH Poet Laureate Alexandria Peary and Margot Douaihy

Featured photo: Alexandria Peary. Courtesy photo.