Arts Week

Arts Week: December 14, 2017

Today’s guest: David Drake, artistic director, Provincetown Theater

If you’d like to keep up with what’s going on in town between installments of Arts Week, you can always sign up for the weekly mailing list at ptownie.com. They’ll keep you in the know about all the things you need to know to plan your week. Ptownie.com

The Center for Coastal Studies’ Winter Lecture Series continues at Napi’s with “Right Whales at the Brink: Stewardship at the Edge of Extinction” on December 27th. Topics will include the status of the population and its recent steep decline, the seasonal arrival of the whales, and the critical role that Massachusetts waters play in their uncertain future. The series is free. Call 508-487-3622 x 103 for more information.

Want to find out about local music going on all over the Cape? Visit capecodmusic.com for bands and events.

The Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum is leading Provincetown 400, the initiative whose mission is to oversee events and fundraising for the commemorations in 2020 of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Pilgrim’s first landing in Provincetown. Also, there’s a fabulous champagne and oyster New Year’s Day party there along with a great vantage point for watching the fireworks. There are a lot of ways for you to get involved, so visit them at pilgrim-monument.org.

Crone’s Team Trivia is on Thursday nights at Napi’s restaurant at 7pm. You don’t need to come with a team; they’ll help you find one. There is a wide range of topics with some singing and dancing thrown in. Check out the Facebook page for more information.

The Provincetown Theater has hired David Drake as its new artistic director, which is very exciting. The playhouse will celebrate the holidays in true community fashion this year with three performances of a home-grown yuletide musical revue “A Very Townie Christmas” on Friday & Saturday, December 15th & 16th at 7pm, and Sunday, December 17th at 2pm. As master of ceremonies, Town Manager David Panagore has graciously donated his services as the show’s host. Suggested donation is $10. Kids under 12 get in for free. Seasonal treats will be served. Provincetowntheater.org

At the Cape Cod Theatre Company you can see A Christmas Carol until December 30th. Celebrate this timeless Christmas tradition with your whole family and recapture the joy and generosity of the season. You can read my review of the show at ptownie.com, and get more information, times, and tickets at Capecodtheatrecompany.org.

Tuesday December 19th, 7:30 pm at the Monomoy Regional High School you can see Judy Collins in concert, preceded by the completely awesome Tracy Grammer. The concert is presented by the Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival. For more information, visit judyonthecape.bpt.me.

At the Water’s Edge Cinema this weekend you can see:

  • THE SQUARE: Winner of the Palme d’Or, this zany, yet poignant satire revolves around an altruism-themed art installation in a Swedish museum & the bizarre series of events it sets into motion.
  • Staying in Scandinavia, you can also see THELMA, a supernatural lesbian thriller about a Norwegian college student with a complicated past who discovers she has fantastic powers that grow stronger as she becomes intimately involved with a woman for the first time.
  • And it’s everybody’s favorite, A CHRISTMAS STORY. Set in the 1940s, this instant holiday classic tells the tale of a young boy who wants a Red Ryder B.B. gun more than anything in the world.

The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater invites you to an open house celebrating the holiday season this Saturday from 3 – 6 pm, featuring live entertainment onstage, complimentary refreshments and plenty of holiday cheer. And then on Sunday it’s the annual community reading of A Christmas Carol at 3pm. The open house is free, and admission to the reading is by donation. WHAT.org.

The Outermost Contra dance happens on the third Friday of each month at Wellfleet Preservation Hall. Come dance to exuberant reels and jigs from traditional repertoires of the British Isles, Canada, and America. All levels are welcome and there’s no need to bring a partner. Requested per person donation is $10. Also at Prez Hall this Saturday, it’s the Cool for Fuel Benefit Event, taking up the slack by the cancellation of the Yule for Fuel shows. At 3pm it’s Rose Clancy, Cumberland, Robert Finch, the New Beach Band, and Christine Ernst. At 7:30 pm it’s the Bert Jackson Trio, the Rip it Ups, Monica Rizzio, Rose Martin, and Christine Earnst, and the MC and headliner for both shows is Suede. Please join us for this very special one day event of live music and spoken word performances from some of your favorite Cape artists, with proceeds to benefit the Lower Cape Outreach Council’s winter fuel assistance program. Tickets are $20. More about it at wellfleetpreservationhall.org.

Those of you who know me, know how much I love the singing string quartet Well-Strung. They’ll make their Town Hall solo debut (and 10 points to anyone catching the Harry Chapin allusion in what I just said) in Provincetown on December 30 with “Home for the Holidays” at 6:30. The hit holiday show features the group’s own unique pop-classical spin on some of the most beautiful and traditional holiday favorites, such as “Silent Night”, “Sleigh Ride,” all the way to Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas” and everything in between. Well-strung.com

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest, because we’re accepting submissions now! In honor of former Cape Cod Poet Laureate, Joe Gouveia, WOMR/WFMR continues this annual tradition to honor his commitment to the poetry community while supporting a great community asset. Judge Marge Piercy will select the finalists for both the National and Regional categories. We are awarding $1,300 in prizes, and there’s more at womr.org