Picked these tickets up at a yard sale last year. Would these be valuable today? I found them interesting.
Debbie in Candia
Dear Debbie,
Pine Island Park is a big part of Manchester’s history. It opened in the early 1900s and closed in the early 1960s. The story is a long and interesting one, worth researching..
I have seen many pieces of memorabilia from the park — souvenirs, trinkets, park benches etc. Even though I was just a child when the park closed, I always enjoyed owning a piece of memorabilia.
I have seen tickets for as much as $10 each. So yes, they have value, I think, to anyone who wants a piece of Manchester’s history and amusement park pieces. Thanks for sharing, Debbie, and putting a smile on my face.
For me, July has started off wet: rains, heavy at times, three days a week and going on for weeks. Although I like not having to water my new plantings in the vegetable garden and flower beds, some plants are having a tough time — they need sunshine!
It’s fortunate that I make raised beds in my vegetable garden, which is near our stream. Hoeing up the earth from the pathways and adding compost has helped me considerably. Even though the beds are only 6 inches above the walkways, it helps to drain soggy soil. Of course it’s too late to do that if you have already planted on the flat of the garden — but remember for next year, as we may see these conditions again.
If you haven’t thinned your carrots, beets and other root crops yet, now is the time to do so. I try to get that done by July 4, but later is OK. You can thin to 1 inch if you want to thin them again to 2 inches in a few weeks, or you can just thin to 2-inch spacing now. The advantage to thinning twice is that your carrots will be big enough to eat when you thin them the second time.
Carrots are heavy feeders, so you may want to side-dress the rows with a little slow-release organic fertilizer like Pro-Gro or Espoma Garden Tone. Just sprinkle a thin line of fertilizer alongside the carrots, and then use a hand tool to work it in a little.
I recently finished mulching my pathways and around bigger plants like tomatoes. I put down a layer of newspaper, four sheets or more, and cover it with straw. This does a good job of keeping down the weeds. Hay is cheaper, of course, but has seeds, which can grow.
For onions, carrots and other things planted close together in straight rows I tear strips of newspapers and cover them with grass clippings or, better still, chopped leaves from last fall. FYI: Newspapers rip well from top to bottom, but not across the page.
I did lots of staking of peonies in June, as many of them have such heavy blossoms that they bend over and land on the ground, particularly after a rain. Tall fall asters and goldenrod and even phlox will fall over later on as they get too tall to stand up to rains and wind.
I have lots of 4-foot and 5-foot quarter-inch-diameter iron rods I had custom-made for me for holding up these fall beauties. The iron rods go deep into the soil more easily than thin bamboo stakes, and are stronger. To avoid getting poked in the eye when bending over, I put a wine cork on the top of each one. I drill a quarter-inch hole into the cork and slide it on. They are a good excuse to buy a nice bottle or French red from time to time with a real cork!
It’s getting late in the season to cut back tall flowers to keep them shorter, but you might try cutting back some phlox or asters now if they haven’t started making flower buds yet. Traditionally this is called the “Chelsea Chop” and is named after the Chelsea Flower Show in London, which occurs in late May each year. After the Chelsea show English gardeners prune back big tall plants. They bloom later, are shorter, and often have many more blossoms. Good candidates for hard pruning include asters, Boltonia, purple coneflower, Joe Pye weed, sneezeweed (Helenium), bee balm, Russian sage, phlox, obedient plant, rudbeckias of all sorts and Culver’s root.
Not all flowers respond well to the Chelsea Chop. Do not do this with lady’s mantle, columbine, goat’s beard, astilbe, delphinium, gas plant (dictamus), foxglove, geraniums, daylilies, hostas, iris, lupines or oriental poppies, among others. You can find lists of which to cut and which to leave alone in Tracy DiSabato-Aust’s fine book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden. Everyone should have a copy of it.
Weeding flower beds is loved by a few gardeners but avoided by many. I am so lucky that both my wife Cindy and I like to weed. Cindy is a formidable weeder, even better than me, and she has much more endurance than I do. If you don’t enjoy weeding, set a goal: Work for half an hour. Work until this small bed is weed-free. Weed every morning or evening for 15 minutes. Small efforts done every day really make a huge difference.
My advice? Get a good weeding tool that you like, one that will get under the roots so that you can lift from below and pull from above. For us, that is the CobraHead weeder (www.CobraHead.com). It’s made like a curved finger with just a single tine. I can tease out roots that, if broken, would re-sprout. It’s important to get the entire root system out so you don’t have to pull the same weed over and over.
We use ground fall leaves in the flower beds, or, lacking enough, we buy double-ground bark mulch. But be careful: If you use too much, you can starve your plants of water from light rains. An inch and a half is what I strive for. Anything less than an inch looks good but won’t do much to deter weeds. And if there are roots from things like goutweed or Japanese knotweed, no amount of mulch will deter those culprits.
Henry is a lifelong organic gardener and a 20-year veteran of the UNH Master Gardener program. He is the author of four gardening books and a gardening consultant. Reach him at [email protected].
Featured photo:Wine corks placed ontips of iron rods protect me against a poke in the eye when bending over to sniff the peonies Photo by Henry Homeyer.
The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities
• Willkomen: Actors Cooperate Theatre wraps up its two-week production of Cabaret at the Hatbox Theatre (Steeplegate Mall, 270 Loudon Road in Concord; hatboxnh.com, 715-2315) with shows this Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 16, at 2 p.m. Tickets for this presentation of the Tony-winning musical about a Berlin nightclub at the end of the Weimar Republic cost $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and students.
• Barns tell the story: The New Boston Historical Society will feature John Porter to discuss “The History of Agriculture as Told By Barns” on Thursday, July 13, at 7 p.m. at New Boston Community Church (2 Meetinghouse Hill Road), according to a press release. Porter was a dairy specialist for the UNH Cooperative Extension and authored several books about old barns, the release said. The event is free; see newbostonhistoricalsociety.com.
• New at the Currier: The new exhibit “Distant Conversations: Ella Walker and Betty Woodman” will open to the public at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) on Saturday, July 15. The exhibit is the first in a series of “Distant Conversations” exhibits “exploring intergenerational dialogues and artistic conversations between practitioners who have not necessarily met in real life but whose work similarly resonates despite their differences,” according to the Currier’s website. The exhibit will be on display through Sunday, Oct. 22. You can see the exhibit for free during Saturday’s Block Party, which runs from 4 to 9 p.m.
“The Complexities of Presentation” Kimball Jenkins (266 N. Main St. in Concord; kimballjenkins.com, 225-3932) has partnered with the Greater Manchester Chamber (54 Hanover St. in Manchester; manchester-chamber.org) to present the show “The Complexities of Presentation” at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Boardroom at the Chamber offices, running Thursday, July 13, through the end of August, according to a press release. The show will feature the works of artists Sylvan Dustin and Leaf Comstock, the release said. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, July 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. and will feature live music, treats by Dancing Lion Chocolate, and an opportunity to meet the artists, the release said. The gallery is open Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• NH Music Festival: The New Hampshire Music Festival (nhmf.org) will perform two concerts at the Gilford Community Church (19 Potter Hill Road in Gilford): an orchestra concert on Friday, July 14, at 7 p.m. and a chamber music concert on Monday, July 24, at 7 p.m. Tickets for the orchestra concert cost $40 for adults, $15 for students; tickets for the chamber concert cost $35 for adults, $15 for students. See the Festival’s website to purchase tickets.
• The history of Freedom Summer: The Derry Public Library (derrypl.org) will host a virtual program called “Civil Rights Investigation: Mississippi Burning,” about the disappearance of three civil rights workers during the Freedom Summer of 1964, on Wednesday, July 26, from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., according to the website. The program is presented by the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.
• Sy Montgomery: Author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matt Patterson will be at Balin Books (Somerset Plaza, 375 Amherst St. in Nashua; balinbooks.com, 417-7981) on Saturday, July 29, at 11 a.m. to discuss and sign their new children’s picture book The Book of Turtles, according to a press release.
• Creme de la Creme and Oshibana: The Art Center and NH Art Association present their “Creme de la Creme” members exhibition at The Art Center (Suite 1177, 1 Washington St. in Dover; theartcenterdover.com) through the end of August, according to a press release. An artist reception will be held for the exhibit on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m, the release said.
The Art Center is also running the exhibit “Oshibana — The Botanical Collection” featuring the artwork of Roberta Garrison in the Jim Reagan Gallery through Aug. 31, according to a press release. Oshibana is an art form originating in 16th-century Japan involving “arranging pressed flowers and botanical elements into stunning works of art,” the release said. Garrison’s work focuses on the beauty of local birds, the release said. An artist reception for this show will also be held on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Chef’s Kiss Back at their home base, Kimball Jenkins (266 N. Main St. in Concord; kimballjenkins.com, 225-3932) will present a “Chef’s Kiss” reception on Friday, July 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. “Amanda Whitworth, former Artist Laureate of New Hampshire, has given her heart to assist in a live performance painting with artists Nicholas So and Jeryl Palana Pilapil. We encourage attendees to wear white and tip artists to paint a live painting on their person! Materials will be available for those who want to paint on each other instead of leaning on an artist! Light fare will be provided,” according to a press release. The reception kicks off a multi-artist summer show that will run from Friday, July 14, through Tuesday, Sept. 12, with gallery hours Monday through Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Printmaking on display: The New Hampshire Art Association and the Monotype Guild of New England are presenting the exhibit “Hot Off the Press,” a showcase of New England printers, at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery (136 State St. in Portsmouth; nhartassociation.org, 431-4230) through Sunday, July 30, according to a press release. The exhibit showcases printmaking from New England with a mix of etching, collagraph, letterpress, relief, lithograph and more, the release said. The gallery is open Tuesday through 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.
• Save the date for even more printmaking: Big Ink weekend at the gallery at 3S Artspace (319 Vaughan St. in Portsmouth; 3sarts.org, 766-3330) will feature “the Big Tuna” — a giant mobile printmaking press — that local artists will use to create large-scale relief prints, according to a press release. The printing, which the public can watch, will run Saturday, Aug. 26, and Sunday, Aug. 27, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Artists printing at 3S Artspace include Michelle Stevens, Leslie Evans, Poppy Lord, Denise Manseau, Lisa Schwarz, Le Huong Huynh, Heather Hughes, Sarah Robbitts-Terry, Jennifer Benn, Lauren Audet, Christie Norton, Emily Noelle Lambert, Ronald Pacacha, Mary Mead, Jessica McKeon, Eric MacDonald, Alison Freidlin, Ashley Doke and William Wright, the release said.
• Save the date for ukuleles: The Southern New Hampshire Ukulele Group will hold its 8th annual ukulele picnic, SNHUFest, on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Rotary Arts Pavilion Stage at Henry Law Park in Dover. The festival, which is free, features a full day of ukulele performances as well as food, vendors, raffles and more, according to a press release. See facebook.com/SNHUG.
Shakespeare on the Green Get two weekends of Shakespeare under the stars at “Shakespeare on the Green” featuring Macbeth Thursday, July 20, through Saturday, July 22, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream Thursday, July 27, through Saturday, July 29, with all shows at 7:30 p.m., according to a press release. The plays, presented by Theatre Kapow (tkapow.com), will take place on Founder’s Green outside the Dana Center (Saint Anselm College, 100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester; tickets.anselm.edu). Tickets cost $25 for general seating; ages 12 and under get in free. Bring your lawn chairs, blankets, coolers and snacks, according to the website.
The excitement was palpable while the 13-person cast of Firebringer rehearsed on Tuesday, June 27, just a little more than two weeks from opening night. The group of teens sang, acted and joked in the rehearsal space, giving their all for the rehearsal run-through of the show’s first act.
Firebringer, a musical comedy about how cavemen, and cavewomen, discovered fire, is the first show the Teen Actorsingers have put on since closing down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Director Christine Conticchio said she was excited to help highlight the young talent of southern New Hampshire.
“I am excited that we’re a small group but a mighty group,” Conticchio said. “What I didn’t get in quantity, I made up for in quality.”
The show follows a tribe of humans during the Stone Age, with the leader, Jemilla, focusing on keeping the peace in the tribe, having everyone do their designated jobs and duties, and keeping the tribe safe. Zazzalil, an outsider who doesn’t enjoy hard work, decides to try to figure out a shortcut.
Conticchio said she wanted to bring something that would make audiences excited for the reinvigorated youth program. Firebringer gained online popularity due to the meme of Zazzalil singing about how she doesn’t want to do the daily work, and that viral video was enough for Conticchio to get the show up and running. Another benefit was the ensemble nature of the cast, leading to multiple named parts, and the overall lighthearted and feel-good message the show leaves the audience with.
Sophia Scribner, who plays the leader of the tribe, Jemilla, said the whole show revolves around changing perspectives and learning to be open to that change.
“Because of Zazzalil, [Jemilla] realizes that new inventions, like fire, don’t have to be scary,” Scribner said.
Zazzalil, played by Maeve McNeal, starts the show out as an outcast and a troublemaker, but finally becomes accepted by the end of the show, after becoming the titular firebringer and realizing that Jemilla might have had some good points.
“She’s all over the place, but eventually people start to understand her,” McNeal said. “She ends up feeling like she belongs in the end. It’s cute, very coming-of-age.”
In the past, Teen Actorsingers have won awards for their productions, but that isn’t something that Conticchio is focusing on. With the organization finally coming back from the pandemic, Conticchio said she is just excited to be surrounded by passionate young actors.
“They’re wanting a challenge,” Conticchio said about the cast. “These harmonies are not easy, these rhythms are not easy, but they have thrived in that challenge.”
As Conticchio sees it, people often write off teen actors and performances — she said a lot of organizations will shy away from more difficult shows, or choose to do the teen or junior adaptations of popular musicals. Conticchio said that is a disservice to the young actors.
“There’s a fine line between treating [teens] like babies and treating them like they’re almost adults,” Conticchio said. “I think that’s the understatement of teen theater; a lot of people underestimate what these young people can do, and I want to show them that this is what they’re capable of.”
Firebringer From the Teen Actorsingers (actorsingers.org) Where: Janice B. Streeter Theater, 14 Court St. in Nashua When: Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 16, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and students plus fees (discounts for group tickets).
While running a ceramics studio after studying ceramics and art history at the Kansas City Art Institute, Calder Kamin felt that clay was no longer the ideal medium to create her art.
“[It] was a very difficult medium to continue without the school’s facilities,” Kamin said. “I started to feel less attachment to the material because it started to feel very arbitrary and heavy. It’s expensive [and] demands all these facilities, all this energy [and] all these toxic chemicals.”
Instead, she started making art from post-consumer materials and has involved the community in her efforts during her residency at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester.
Kamin will be running activities and displaying her work at the museum’s free summer block party on Saturday, July 15, from 4 to 9 p.m.
“It’s a major celebration … for people to come and bring their friends and family and explore the museum,” said Courtney Starrett, the press contact for the Currier. “We’re super excited to have Calder on board doing her activity as well, because it really ties in with our overall theme of nature and the environment.”
Originally from Austin, Texas, Kamin has been traveling to different residency programs, having started at the Currier in April. During her time there, she has been working on constructing two 12-foot-long quilts that will become a pair of wings for a plush pegasus. She has enlisted the help of the community to hand-sew feathers for the wings. In each feather will be a dream written on a piece of paper. All of the scraps from the feather-making workshops will be used to form the body of the quilt.
“I make all my art out of garbage,” Kamin said. “Everything [used] has to be from post-consumer materials. I try to use very little, [or] nothing, new.”
Kamin became inspired to recycle material for her art after she took up birding as a hobby.
“I started observing the birds in my neighborhood, and the most interesting behavior to me was watching the birds collect trash to build their nests,” Kamin said. “I thought, ‘Oh, I need to be more like a bird. Nature never wastes. … Everything is used for new energy or new life.’”
Kamin started using trash, mostly plastic bags, which usually take the shape of animals or fantastical creatures.
“It became a real passion to reuse these materials, support the folks that are getting these materials out of the waste stream, and then show the value of these materials to the public by transforming them into beautiful objects,” she said.
During her residency, Kamin has also been holding workshops with activities influenced by other artists. One craft, inspired by Louise Nevelson, involves gluing wood scraps together and painting them black. Another project incorporates the work of Josef Albers, an abstract painter whose work often took the shape of squares, and Anni Albers, a fiber artist. This results in square felt patches.
Kamin also drains the pigment from old markers to make an ink wash, using the caps to make flowers or beads for a curtain. She was inspired to make the pegasus from her prior residency work.
“I was making art for children’s museums that they couldn’t touch and it started to not make sense,” she said. “[I thought,] ‘Why am I making art you can’t touch for a children’s museum that is purely about interaction?’ So this is my attempt to not only make a project that brought the community in to build, but a piece … that children can touch and play [with].”
Once completed, the pegasus will be part of an exhibition in April 2024 in Texas. From there, it will travel to New Orleans, then to Mobile, Alabama. At the block party, Kamin will show what she has done so far.
The outdoor event will be headlined by Kamin as well as Vermont artist Mark Ragonese, and will include live music, food trucks and many environmental-themed activities and projects.
“We see [the artists in residence] program as a leading way to really create more access points,” Starrett said. “For people to be able to enter the museum when they otherwise feel as though it might not be for them or it’s something they need to pay for. We really want to break down those barriers and let people know it’s … for everyone.”
Summer Block Party Where: Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; 669-6144, currier.org) When: Saturday, July 15, 4 to 9 p.m. The event features free gallery admission, art activities, food trucks, face painting, a beer and wine tent, community art projects and more, according to the website. This year’s theme is nature and environmentalism, the website said.
More Currier events
Where: Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; 669-6144, currier.org) Hours of admission: are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission: $20 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 65 and older and for students, $5 for youth ages 13-17, children younger than 13 are free.
The next Expressions through Art is on Thursday, July 13, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. This program provides an outlet for cancer patients, survivors and their families. The museum uses art in the galleries as well as art workshops to help visitors form connections.
The program Looking Together will highlight Giovan Angelo Montorsoli’s painting “John the Baptist” from the 1530s on Saturday, July 16, at 11 a.m. or noon. Visitors to the museum will have a chance for a close look at the painting with a member of the museum’s teaching staff to educate them on the work of art.
According to Marlana Trombley, the head of marketing and special projects at Orbit Group, Liz and Jeremey Hitchcock created the Artists in Residence program at The Factory on Willow to give artists an opportunity to draw inspiration from the Manchester community.
“The whole program is really just an opportunity to integrate more art into the Manchester community, and for artists from all over the world to get an opportunity to see what a gem the city is and how much we all love it,” she said.
The 12-week residency program provides housing, a food stipend and an art supply stipend, and ends in a capstone exhibition.
“We’re very customized in how we work with each artist,” Trombley said. “Every artist has a different opportunity depending on what is going on in the community. … The whole thing gets shaped while they’re on site.”
The residency has welcomed artists from as far away as the United Kingdom. One of the current artists, Jay Goldberg, comes from New York City. His exploration of memory will be showcased as a multimedia project titled “The Memory of America – Manchester: Remember Your First Baseball Game.” This entails conducting interviews with members of the Manchester community about their first time going to a baseball game.
“For me, it’s all about getting out into the community,” Goldberg said. “I’m really enjoying that in Manchester. … I threw myself right into the community because if I don’t meet people there is no art project.”
Goldberg has been working on other versions of this project centering around other communities for a couple of years, but his interest in the link between baseball and memory is a theme that he feels has been embedded in him since his childhood.
In 2000 Goldberg and a partner owned a design studio company where they made handmade baseballs. On the gift box of each one, Goldberg wrote a paragraph about someone’s memory of going to their first game.
“It touched a nerve with a lot of people. I got such positive feedback,” he said.
Years later, while cleaning out a storage locker that held inventory for a gallery shop, Goldberg rediscovered a letter from his late father.
“He wrote me this note … [and asked] could I do him a favor [and] go to the library and check the microfilm,” he said. “He had this memory [of] the first time he went to a baseball game and he wanted to see if his memory was still good.”
Goldberg intends to showcase the stories and memories of the people he’s talked to via multiple media forms. One of these forms will be an interactive film projection of an interview transcript that will look like it’s being written by a typewriter, the writing becoming slower the longer it takes the story to unfold.
Another will involve a video projection with a looping graphic. With it there will be two lines from different interviews about the same topic but from opposite perspectives.
“Somebody asked me once to describe what the project is in one word, which is almost impossible, but as I thought about it, I realized I can describe what it’s really about in one word, and it’s about love,” Goldberg said. “The stories go in all different directions but part of why I enjoy it so much is no matter what direction they go in [it] always gets down to love in one way or another.”
Upcoming Factory on Willow events
Here are some of the artist in residence events scheduled in July and August, according to factoryonwillow.com. The Factory on Willow is at 252 Willow St. in Manchester.
Justin Tyler Tate, artist in residence showcase, on Thursday, July 27, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Free.
Artist in Residence Workshop: Cup-o-soup with Justin Tyler Tate. Learn how to “remake products such as homemade medicines, balms and other remedies in the form of consumable art-objects,” according to the website. Event is Saturday, July 29, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person. See website for tickets.
Artist in Residence Workshop: The Atomic Balms with Justin Tayler Tate on Sunday, July 30, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person; see website for tickets.
Artist in Residence Workshop: Lost and Found First Aid with Justin Tyler Tate on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person; see website for tickets.
Artist in Residence Workshop: Bath Bomb and Carry On with Justin Tyler Tate on Saturday, Aug. 12, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person; see website for tickets.
Jay Goldberg, artist in residence showcase, on Thursday, Aug. 17, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Free.
Alanis Obomsawin.
MacDowell Medal Day MacDowell (100 High St. in Peterborough; macdowell.org, 924-3886), which provides artists in a variety of fields a residential environment to work in and is billed as the nation’s first artist residency program, will hold its 63rd awarding of the MacDowell Medal on Sunday, July 23, from 12:15 to 4 p.m. The Medal, awarded to an artist who makes outstanding contributions in their field, goes this year to Alanis Obomsawin, a filmmaker who is Abenaki, was born in New Hampshire and “is known as a clear-eyed chronicler of the lives and concerns of First Nations people and explores issues of universal importance,” according to the MacDowell website. The event is free and open to the public, though you can order a picnic basket (the deadline for online ordering has passed but call for information). The day will include the medal ceremony at 12:15 p.m. and open studios from 2 to 4 p.m., when visitors can see the work of current artists in residence, according to the website.
Standing ovation
Londonderry-based theater company gives students the chance to learn and lead
Meg Gore, a theater producer and director with more than 35 years of experience, founded Ovation Theatre Company in Londonderry in 2019 with the intent to focus on education.
“It’s always my goal that when someone enters any of our programs … that by the time they finish they’ve learned something,” Gore said.
At Ovation, students are involved in every step of the production process through their artists in residency program. Unlike other artists in residency programs, Ovation does not offer housing and funding for artists, but instead gives high school and college students the opportunity to take on a role in production under the guidance of mentors. This includes positions lasting anywhere from around one to six months, such as student director, stage manager and choreographer, that are tailored to the goals and needs of the artist.
Ryan Kaplan. Courtesy photo.
“We don’t necessarily have a set program … but at whatever level we can, whenever we can, we do involve the students,” Gore said.
Ryan Kaplan, a soon to be sophomore at Windham High School, has been doing theater since he was 8 years old, working specifically with Ovation for the past three to four years.
“I got started from a pretty early age for theater and it’s always something I’ve been really passionate about,” he said. “I really believe in the power of art to heal people … and I think that theater is such a powerful way to do that, because you’re putting real humans in a space with people that they’re presenting their art to and just that added layer of human connection. It’s a really powerful way of storytelling.”
While at Ovation, Kaplan has had the opportunity to be an assistant director and stage manager of Ovation’s production of Glynn Cosker’s show, Masked. He was also then invited to work on the production of The Little Mermaid, Ovation’s first completely student-run production. He is now working as an assistant director for the summer camp.
“I would love to have some sort of career in theater, or to have it be a major part of my life in some way,” Kaplan said. “I’ve been given so many avenues to explore different branches of theater and different jobs in the theater. I’m actually really not sure right now if I would want to be a theater educator or go into directing or performing or what specifically that is, but I definitely know that theater and performance art is definitely the path that I want to go down.”
Upcoming Ovation Theatre shows
Newsies Friday, July 21, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 22, at 2 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry). Tickets cost $20 ($25 after July 15). See ovationtc.com.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical Friday, Aug. 11, and Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry). Tickets cost $17 ($20 after Aug. 5). See ovationtc.com.
Batulo Mahamed.Courtesy photo.
Culinary Artist in Residence The Capitol Center for the Arts has a Culinary Artist in Residence program, a position currently held by Batulo Mohamed. She serves up Somali-inspired cuisine, such as the sambusa (a Somali meat pie) she was known for before opening Batulo’s Kitchen at the Cap Center’s Bank of New Hampshire Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord). The eatery is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. See batuloskitchen.com.
Blending passions
Artist combines passion for music and nature at Avaloch Farm Music Institute
Avaloch Music Farm Institute, set on the grounds of what used to be an apple orchard in Boscawen, offers artists a rural respite to focus on their craft.
“What makes us so unique is [while] there are many residency programs in the U.S. and abroad, very few of them are geared toward performing artists,” said Ashley Bathgate, the director, and six time former resident, at Avaloch. “I think it allows the performing touring artist to find a home and be able to work together which is a luxury.”
Payton MacDonald. Courtesy photo.
Located near the mountains, Avaloch was the ideal venue for musician Payton MacDonald to work on his project, Sonic Peaks, which blends his passions for music and nature through the creation of graphic scores.
“A graphic score is a piece of music that has a mixture of notation styles,” MacDonald said. “It has traditional notation, it has text, it has pictures, diagrams, all kinds of things … It also functions as visual art in a way.”
Originally from Idaho, MacDonald has always loved the outdoors, enjoying endurance sports, triathlons, hiking, camping and mountain biking. His interest in music also dates back to his early years. He started taking drum lessons when he was 9 years old and eventually branched out into other percussive instruments, such as the marimba and xylophone.
“I’ve just been passionate about music ever since I can remember,” MacDonald said.
He heard about the residency program through Bathgate, and having wanted to hike the White Mountains, took the opportunity. During his residency in June, MacDonald completed three graphic scores, two of which were inspired by hiking Cannon and North and South Kinsman in the White Mountains during his time at Avaloch.
“Avaloch is incredible. I can’t say enough good things about it,” MacDonald said. “I just had an absolute blast. I didn’t want it to ever end, honestly.”
According to Bathgate, the completion of Avaloch’s new concert barn gives musicians a new venue to share their art, expanding Avaloch’s community engagement by bringing the community to the farm with the Evenings at Avaloch concert series, which features a wide variety of music from musicians all over the world.
“This is going to change the possibility and programming for the future because we’ll be able to share what these artists are working on with the surrounding communities,” Bathgate said. “Just the fact that we have jazz and early music, classical music, experimental music, electronic music, it’s just a wealth of genres, [and] also these artists who are coming from the West Coast, the Midwest, from Israel, South America and all sorts of different countries, I think is an incredible resource and win for this community.”
Upcoming events
Avaloch Farm Music Institute, 16 Hardy Lane, Boscawen, avalochfarmmusic.org
Evenings at Avaloch, on Friday, July 14 and July 21, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
Composers Conference Ensemble Concert #1: Lighting, Wednesday, July 26, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
Composers Conference Guest Composer Spotlight: Michelle Lou, Thursday, July 27, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Composers Conference: CMW Artists-in-Residence Concert #1. Friday, July 28, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
Composers Conference Ensemble Concert #2: Ethos, Saturday, July 29, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
For Corrie Owens-Beauchesne, a company artist at New Hampshire Theater Project in Portsmouth, theater has always been an outlet to access and process emotions. Now she is able to help others experience this themselves through the artists in residency program at NHTP.
Corrie Owens-Beauchesne. Courtesy photo.
NHTP was established in 1988 as an artists in residency program, eventually becoming a theater, when founding executive director Genevieve Aichele began going into schools and introducing them to story theater.
“Story theater utilizes these stories that don’t have a main character,” Owens-Beauchesne said. “The kids work together and they learn through this [that] theater [is a] group process where it takes a whole village to create a story.”
Today, NHTP acts as a liaison to form connections between artists and organizations, sorting out the budgeting and creating the contracts for each to sign. The artists then run theater-related programming at the organization.
“[The artists] have such a broad, diverse range of specialties, but a lot of them have improv expertise and use theater as a tool that can help people in other areas of life,” Owens-Beauchesne said.
These organizations include elementary schools, universities and senior living homes. Through these tools, people are taught skills in areas such as public speaking or social emotional learning. Owens-Beauchesne started taking classes at NHTP when she was around 6 years old. At the theater, she found a safe haven to express and process her feelings.
“[My family was] pretty poor, and I think because of that there was a lot of distress in my family,” she said. “Theater really gave me this outlet and I remember it totally changed how I felt like I could express myself. I would come to the theater and I would have all these feelings inside me, like anger or frustration or sadness, and I would have a place [where] it was OK to share those and people around me had tools for processing [them].”
Owens-Beauchesne has received a degree in theater education and has her license in elementary education in Massachusetts. Though she has experience in the public school system, she feels she has more freedom through her work as a company artist. She is able to design her own curriculum, which implements, improv, modified theater games, and is influenced by her study of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.
“I see it really helping these kids gain better skills about how to be in community with each other and how to help themselves when they’re feeling bad,” Owens-Beauchesne said.
Through this work, she is able to give children the tools that she was given as a child at NHTP.
“Honestly, I really believe that theater is pretty therapeutic,” Owens-Beauchesne said. “It was a huge tool in my life I’d say, and then as I got older I just learned more and I saw it transforming other people’s lives, and I knew that [was] something I wanted to continue to be a part of.”
New Hampshire Theatre Project
959 Islington St., No. 3, in Portsmouth; nhtheatreproject.org, 431-6644
NH Theatre Project will be holding auditions for its 2023-2024 season on Tuesday, July 25, from 5 to 8 p.m. Find the signup and registration forms on its website.
Preview the new season, which starts with the production Thirst for Freedom on Sept. 22, on the website, where you can find a list of shows and see a video preview.
Ellen Friedlander. Courtesy photo.
Artist at Canterbury Shaker Village The Canterbury Shaker Village’s artist-in-residency program is hosting visual artist Ellen Friedlander from Los Angeles through Saturday, July 15, and then again Sunday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 8, according to a press release. According to the release, while at the Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road in Canterbury; 783-9511, shakers.org), Friedlander planned to experiment with her pinhole lens and a new neutral density filter. “In addition to photographing the Village itself, I plan to work on sequencing a book that I have been working on for about a year,” Friedlander said in the release.
Building a community
The Art Center in Dover puts the emphasis on artists
The residency program at The Art Center provides a built-in community of artists and art-lovers. Rebecca Proctor, the owner and founder of The Art Center, said that she wanted to give artists of varying disciplines a space to work and also to be inspired and to receive feedback.
Diane St. Jean. Courtesy photo.
“To be able to be in a space where you can learn from other artists and be inspired by other artists is exciting and beneficial to artists who maybe don’t have a studio,” Proctor said.
There are two programs at The Art Center, one for miscellaneous visual arts, and one specifically for printmakers, and both are four months long. At the end of the residency, Proctor said, the artists will have completed a small collection of work that will be displayed in the center’s gallery
Several former artists in residence now rent studio space, including the first artist in residence for the printmaking residency, Diane St. Jean. St. Jean teaches printmaking classes and helps the printmaking resident with their projects. Part of why St. Jean stayed with the Art Center is the community built there.
“The other artists give their opinions and encouragement, even if they aren’t printmakers,” said St. Jean. “Everyone is supportive and friendly.”
The current artist in residence, Pep Manalang, has already completed several works. “It’s free from pressure that you get at galleries and from buyers to develop art,” Manalang said. “Here, I can spend lots of time thinking.”
The Art Center
1 Washington St., Suite 1177, Dover, 978-6702, theartcenterdover.com The deadline for applications for the next residency, Oct. 1 through Jan. 31, is on Sept. 19. Submit applications via email to [email protected]. Find works by the Art Center’s residents and member artists via the website.
Hillsborough Summer Festival begins tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. at Grimes Field (29 Preston St., Hillsborough). The festival runs through Sunday, July 16, with live entertainment (tonight’s entertainment is a DJ; see the website for a list of performers), a midway and carnival rides, a fireworks show on Saturday night, a 5K road race on Friday, a hometown parade on Sunday at noon and more, according to the website. The festival is open Friday from 5 to 11 p.m.; Saturday from noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. See hillsborosummerfest.com.
Friday, July 14
It’s NASCAR Weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1122 Route 106, Loudon) from today through Sunday, July 16 — weekend happenings include Friday Night Dirt Duels on Friday; a doubleheader on Saturday featuring the Ambetter Health 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, followed by the Mohegan Sun 100 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race, and the Crayon 301 race on Sunday. Tickets vary in price, depending on the race. See nhms.com.
Saturday, July 15
The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road in Londonderry; aviationmuseumofnh.org, 669-4820) takes some time off from wings to celebrate wheels at the Classic Car Show today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The show will feature a student-built aircraft but also ground-bound vehicles of all eras, according to a press release. The day will also feature food trucks, a raffle and a yard sale, the release said. Admission to the show for spectators costs $5 per adult, children 12 and under are free, and includes admission to the museum (which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), the release said.
Saturday, July 15
The American Independence Museum (1 Governors Lane in Exeter; 772-2622, independencemuseum.org) celebrates the arrival of the Declaration of Independence in New Hampshire (on July 16, 1776) with the American Independence Festival today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The day will feature a Traditional Artisan Village with artisans demonstrating shoemaking, coopering, millinery, fiber arts, dancing, tinsmithing, brewing and more, according to a press release. The festival will also feature military exhibits, performances, games, a beer garden, food and more, the release said.
Saturday, July 15
Stop in at WineNot Boutique (25 Main St. in Nashua; winenotboutique.com) for a tasting of “Exotic Wines from South America” from 1 to 5 p.m.
Sunday, July 16
Jake Shimabukuro brings his ukulele to the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St. in Nashua; nashuacenterforthearts.com, 800-657-8774) today at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $29. Find more concerts this weekend and beyond in the listings on page 38.
Save the Date!Friday, July 22 The Palace Theatre’s Spotlight Room (96 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org) will host an Intimate Night of Sinatra with Rich DiMare and Ron Poster on Saturday, July 22, with shows at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $29.
