Arts Week

  • Harbor Stage Company’s Summer Ghost Story: The Thin Place

    Posted: August 14th 2023 @5:10 PM

    The stage is nearly bare: two chairs and a table. That’s it. And as the play begins, the house lights are kept on (later all the lights will be turned off), a disconcerting experience that sets the stage—pun intended—for Lucas Hnaith’s The Thin Place, now playing at the Harbor Stage Company.

    The play’s title refers to the liminal space dividing life and death, a locale frequented by mediums and spiritualists, one of which, Linda (played by Harbor Stage regular D’Arcy Dersham), is an Englishwoman in America planning to teach her craft to an American politician, for reasons that remain murky but can be easily guessed.

    But it doesn’t open with Linda: instead, the first person onstage is Hilda (Harbor Stage founding member Stacy Fischer), who tells one audience member, “You remind me of my grandmother.” Before her grandmother died, the two tried to communicate without words in anticipation of a future in which they would live in different realms. Seeking a way to reconnect, Hilda is drawn to Linda, who assures her that if she listens closely enough, she can get to that liminal thin place and talk with her grandmother again.

     

    Jerry (Harbor Stage founding member and artistic director Robert Kropf) and Sylvia (Harbor Stage founding member Brenda Withers) abruptly shift the mood as they arrive with wine to celebrate Linda’s successful visa application, and although Sylvia is Linda’s patron, she also questions Linda’s “tricks,” accusing her of taking advantage of grieving people.

    Hilda, however, is in deep and insists on Linda continuing to contact others; her trust in Linda’s abilities is so complete it unnerves even Linda herself, who tries to explain that her “tricks” involve psychology more than spiritualism.

    Finally the lights all go out as Hilda ventures, herself, into the thin place. The play struggles a little here as it tries to remove—or even expose—the veil between the two worlds; what it does better is reveal the “manipulative nature of persuasion” that can help (or take advantage of) those experiencing grief and loss.

    It’s a play about listening, though it gives no weight to whether or not what is being said is the truth—is it real, or is it what the listener wants to hear? And which do we prefer?

    Director Jeff Zinn has cast the play perfectly. Kropf’s trademark slouch speaks volumes; Fischer’s Hilda is wide-eyed, seemingly innocent, and demure; Withers brings a sparkle to anything she touches; and Dersham’s mysterious persona—humorous and sinister in turn—keeps a throughline going, though her accent needs some work.

    Hnaith’s title is fitting, not just in the sense of the liminality between worlds but also in more practical terms: it’s almost insubstantial. Alison Fischer Greene’s set is nearly bare; characters are wearing instantly forgettable clothing; it’s difficult to put one’s finger on just what might or might not be happening. Horrible things are hinted at but left unspoken, in (of course!) the best tradition of ghost and horror stories.

    But it’s also a pleasure to see these four accomplished actors take the very thinness of the play and weave a stunning, creepy (thanks in part to lighting design by John Malinowski), and ambitious performance. Harbor Stage Company again delivers a powerful experience, deftly touching nerves and pulling the audience into a world where reality just might be what you want to believe. Or… not.

    The ending isn’t entirely satisfying, but there’s an interesting lingering aftertaste as the audience leaves after a protracted time spent in total darkness. It should come with a warning: the ghosts that emanate from this stage might well be your own.

     

    The Thin Place is at Harbor Stage Company through September 3.

    Images: Edward Boches and Joe Kenehan.

     

     
  • The Harbor Stage Company Excels with The Ballad of Bobby Botswain

    Posted: July 18th 2022 @8:37 AM

    Two men meet in a bar.

    It’s the opening to many a story that at least one of the participants is going to later regret. That’s fortunately not the case in The Ballad of Bobby Botswain, the Harbor Stage Company’s current world première and the sort of story that has you laughing while it’s being told… and thinking about what it all meant later.

    The bar (“the best dive bar in Fort Worth”) is empty when T. Peter (Jason Lambert) arrives. He’s meeting a buddy who doesn’t materialize, and meantime is somewhat bemused when Middy (Jonathan Fielding) arrives and strikes up a conversation with him. T. Peter has a problem, a mother dependent on pharmaceuticals she cannot afford. While Middy in the absence of a bartender creates some ultra-strong cocktails for the two men, T. Peter talks about his mysterious pharmacist friend in words that, to Middy, sound “mysterical”—though, truth be told, T. Peter loses his vocabulary altogether when trying to describe the effects the friend has on the very environment that surrounds them, and finishes a wonderfully funny exchange of charades by finally uttering the man’s name: Bobby Botswain.

    It turns out that Middy is an undercover cop (who apparently got all his dialogue from watching Dragnet reruns) and is hot on the trail of the mysterious Botswain. He takes T. Peter to the police station to interrogate him, though they eventually work together on a “reenactment” of Botswain himself, a man who speaks “like Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons,” an affectation they hilariously practice around the famous “excuuuse me” line.

    Eventually—through a series of mishaps—they end up in Botswain’s basement lair where he’s been hiding disguised pharmaceuticals for people like T. Peter’s mother. “These are all stolen!” exclaims Middy self-righteously, to which T. Peter responds, “they wouldn’t have to be if we could afford healthcare.” (It’s worth noting that this play was first imagined by Lambert and Fielding just before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and it’s a dismal thought that vast numbers of people in this country still cannot afford the medicine they need.)

    Botswain is indeed a “mysterical” figure throughout the play, and the ending—a reunion of sorts between the men three years after their first encounter—casts him as a sort of savior, changing their perceptions of the world around them and inspiring them to do good in that same world.

    And it’s absolutely brilliant.

    First of all, Lambert’s facial expressions are alone worth the price of admission; I would pay to see him do nothing but pantomime. He’s funny and endearing and just the slightest bit lost, and the combination is powerful. Fielding’s Middy is also a little lost—he just doesn’t know it yet—and in the 90 minutes of the play’s duration grows emotionally right before our eyes.

    The comedic timing is exceptional. It’s lurking in the most unexpected places and there’s an unerring sense of rhythm running the gamut from subtle to slapstick. Both actors/directors are masters at knowing precisely how long to let a loaded moment sit and when to allow it to explode.

    Making a serious, even deadly, subject funny doesn’t detract from its seriousness: it allows us to experience our fears and explore them in less dangerous ways. There’s a wondrous tension in this play between the subject matter—which is never presented too forcefully—and the silliness of some of the scenes.

    And in the end, aren’t we all looking for a Bobby Botswain, who allows us to experience wonder and caring and maybe even a little rule-breaking in the name of humanity?

    Come for the laughter; stay for the compassion. This world première allows for both. The Harbor Stage Company has done it again, with grace and humor and a story that will touch your heart long after you leave the theater.

     

    photo credit: Edward Boches

     
  • Buried Child a Revelation at Harbor Stage Company

    Posted: June 24th 2022 @3:02 PM

    It’s telling that as the audience files in to see Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer-prizewinning play, Buried Child, at the Harbor Stage Company, they must put on masks and have their vaccination credentials examined: our time is not so very different from the world Shepard describes—the end of an era, with its need to hang on to the past… and, as the January 6 Committee hearings are reminding us, a time to finally reveal secrets.

    That there are secrets at the heart of this family is clear from the play’s opening. There is indeed, as the audience will learn, a literal buried child in the story; but there are also a lot of other burials in this sometimes-entertainingly, sometimes-disturbingly dysfunctional family. It has to be said from the start: all the actors are absolutely superb and make it impossible to look away, even when it’s clear this might be heading into the stuff of nightmares.

    Dodge (played by Dennis Cunningham in perhaps his strongest performance to date) and Halie (D’Arcy Dersham) have been married forever, and go through conversations—he in the living-room, she hollering down from upstairs—that one senses have already been hashed over myriad times. Their home may once have been attractive, but it too has seen too many years of neglect (kudos to Evan Farley’s set design), and one can almost smell the mildew.

    We meet the couple’s two living sons—Tilden (William Zielinski in a tour-de-force performance), slow-witted but with an oddly knowing light lurking somewhere in the back of his expressions, and Bradley (David Fraioli, vibrating with energy), angry at everything and nothing, with strange obsessions that include shaving designs into his father’s hair and placing his fingers in strangers’ mouths. There was another son, the golden boy who died before he could become infected with the family’s pathos, feeding Halie’s assertion that he could have been the small town’s redeeming savior. Everyone else, it seems, has become a major disappointment to her.

    Into this already strange and tense tableau arrive Vince and Shelly, played respectively by Jack Ashenbach and Allison Zanolli. Vince is Tilden’s son, and he and his girlfriend are stopping by the family home on their way to visit Tilden in New Mexico. only to find not only that he has returned to the family home under heavily hinted-at dire circumstances—but also that nobody seems to remember Vince ever existing.

    The play is by turns weirdly creepy and wildly evocative. Zanolli’s strong performance allows the audience relief as it latches on to one ally in this surreal tableau, though Robin Bloodworth’s late appearance as Father Dewis, a local minister having an affair with Halie, also offers an opportunity to see a more normal—if equally flawed—character join the crew.

    Robert Kropf’s direction is, as always, deft and edgy. He knows when to leave beats for the audience to fill in and when to accelerate the pace, allowing for a range of viewer reaction from amusement to incomprehension to disgust. Cunningham does the impossible, keeping attention riveted despite hardly moving from one position for the entire play. Zielinski’s Tilden—by turns baffled and creepy—is possibly the most pathetic of all, drawing the obvious conjecture that the buried child isn’t just out in the former cornfield but possibly inside himself as well.

    Shepard’s play is noticeably weaker in its third act, but it’s the writing, not the acting, that leaves the audience faintly unsettled at the end. Those onstage have created a dark world that seems to be as much warning as exposition, the sad aftermath of living a life that feels pointless in a place that is unrecognizable.

    Harbor Stage has done it again, given us a memorable, powerful production of a difficult piece carried off with apparent ease and élan. Bravo.

     

    (photo credit: Joe Kenahan)

     

     
  • Pranks and Pressure: “Straight White Men” at WHAT

    Posted: June 5th 2022 @11:10 AM

    The contrast couldn’t be more stark: as the audience enters, it’s greeted by loud rap music (performed by women and people of color) and taken on a tour of the play’s premises by two people who are clearly not straight white men; and then Justin Lahue’s excellent set is revealed to be a stuck-in-time family room, almost colorless and completely dull.

    It’s Christmas Eve as we meet the characters: Ed (Mark Hofmaier) and his son Matt (Mike Mihm) live in this drab house, while sons Jake (Andy McCain) and Drew (Carol Howell), respectively a banker and a writer, are on a visit for the holiday. Holiday family reunions may be a trope in numerous novels, plays, and movies, and playwright Young Jean Lee grabs it and runs… but in a somewhat different direction than, say Hallmark might do, with a message that everyone on either side of the political spectrum might absorb: that when it comes to labels, there’s always more to the story.

    It transpires that these characters recognize their advantage, as they play a Monopoly-type game called—naturally—Privilege (“the game where you have fun by not having fun” that awards a “domestic labor bonus”), and eventually (along with a great deal of childish name-calling, roughhousing, and dancing) reveal that they’re each actually acutely aware of the status given them by their race, gender, and sexual identity. Ed shrugs it off (“how else were you supposed to learn not to be assholes?”) and they remind each other, joyfully, of their re-imagining of Oklahoma as OKKK (“saving the world, one goosestep at a time”).

    The question all that presents is, inevitably, what happened to you?

    Lee brings us to the brink of finding out time and time again, then eases us back off it. Ed carefully puts toothbrushes in the men’s stockings; all of them don “the pajamas” in a family ritual; bagels are brought in for breakfast. It’s what one might expect of a man and his three unmarried (Josh is in the process of getting a divorce) adult sons: an attempt to sink into the easy nostalgia of the holidays.

    Then, over Chinese food on Christmas Eve, Matt inexplicably begins to cry. And everyone becomes suddenly terrified. And everyone retreats into his comfort zone with a click that’s almost audible. Matt is, in fact, a mystery to the others—he amassed impressive degrees, worked with the Peace Corps in Africa, is clearly someone who could be a CEO or executive director of a nonprofit, but instead lives with their father, does temp work, and is a tad obsessive about cleaning. None of that fits into their image of what a straight white man should do with the privilege he’s been handed.

    The actors are all beyond excellent in their roles. Hofmaier shows Ed as frantic beneath his bumbling exterior, with a need for easy answers and a growing suspicion that there are none. Howell plays Drew with a certain coiled energy that’s present even when he’s suffering from a hangover. McCain’s Jake is trying desperately to have it all—while seeing it slip through his fingers. (McCain is also choreographer and needs special mention for the smoothness and energy of the roughhousing sequences.) And Mihm imbues Matt with a sort of sad and mysterious dignity against which the other characters seem almost two-dimensional. Their ensemble work shines through their timing, their seamless fitting of characters together, their ability to give the whole as well as the individuals an undercurrent of pathos.

    A special shout-out to Eleanor Philips and Freddy Biddle as the “persons in charge.” Both play for—and get—the laughs, and are, as their characters demand, larger and more robust than those playing out the family scenes.

    WHAT’s production of Straight White Men is nothing less than world-class. Director Sasha Brätt, no stranger to Wellfleet, not only reveals himself as a casting genius but also infuses his scenes with timing that’s no less than perfect. It’s hard to see how any production could be better directed… or produced, with WHAT Artistic Director Christopher Ostrom on lighting, Seth Brodie on costume design (how on earth to make matching pajamas less appealing?), and Sam Sewell on sound design. The various parts make for an immensely satisfying whole.

    Audiences may not enjoy the ending, which is (almost inevitably, it seems) dark; but Straight White Men will give them fodder for conversations that just might be useful to have. Highly recommended!

     

    All images: Michael and Suz Karchmer

     
  • It’s Back! Live Theatre Returns with THE CAKE

    Posted: July 8th 2021 @12:33 PM

    image: David Chick

    It’s been sixteen months since we experienced live theatre here in Provincetown…. And, frankly, THE CAKE at the Provincetown Theater was worth waiting for.

    First, the venue. David Drake and Ellen Rousseau have come up with the most remarkable set imaginable; this “theater in the parking lot” truly feels like theater in the park, with soft Astroturf, pots of flowers and plants, fantastic lighting, even down to the smallest details… this set is absolutely perfect.

    And the play is wonderful. The story’s utter predictability doesn’t mar strong performances from all the actors, though it has to be said that Jennifer Cabral owns the stage anytime she steps onto it. As bakery owner Della, she treats audiences to a fun opening monologue, detailing her upcoming participation in the “Great American Bake-Off,” admitting her love of sweets (“cut me open I’m full of jelly beans”), and, oh yes, making it clear that following directions is what life is, ultimately, all about.

    She’s thrilled to be asked to do a wedding cake for her late best friend’s daughter, but finds herself challenged in a whole number of ways when she learns that the daughter, Jen (played by Vanessa Rose), is marrying another woman, Macy (Jackie Marino-Thomas). Della’s own husband, Tim (played by Cabral’s real-life husband Ian Leahy) finds questions seeping into his marriage as well, as both couples contemplate the meaning of human relationships.

    image: David Chick

    They do it, though, with enough humor to keep audiences laughing nonstop. Della confesses that eating gluten-free food “felt like the back of my throat after a good cry.” Tim wonders when the last time the couple had ever slept apart and his wife answers, “Before we met.” (He tries in turn to spice up their sex life with mashed potatoes. Don’t ask.)

    And while Cabral steals the show, every actor turns in stellar performances. (Almost as if they’ve been waiting for this for… um… sixteen months!)

    Of course, playwright Bekah Brunstetter can’t resist underlining the obvious. When Jen and Macy are talking about meaning, Macy finally bursts out with, “Nothing fits! That’s why I try to find people that fit!” And when Jen ponders what it has meant to her to come home, she concludes, “It’s my inheritance. It’s shame.” Revelations, sure, but they felt a little forced. Still, Brunstetter more than makes up for these lapses with witty dialogue, bold characters, and a story that answers some—but, importantly, not all—questions.

    image: David Chick

    One rather creepy and somewhat heavy-handed component is the increasingly judgmental voice of George (Fred Jodry), the producer of the Great American Bake-Off, whose voice-from-Olympus addresses of Della become increasingly irritated and irritating—one can’t help but wonder how much of Paul Hollywood crept into this characterization—condemning her first for her recipes and later for her bigotry. It’s unfortunate but does not end up marring the piece. THE CAKE is overall fun, delivering reflection as well as confection, and just the tonic for a town starved for theatre!

    Director David Drake and his company have done a tremendous job of handling the movement from indoor to outdoor theater without missing a beat, and when one performance was rained out, everyone took the interruption philosophically—and with hearty servings of Scottcake cupcakes!

    So live a little. Breathe the air. Watch the monarch butterflies around you as you wait for the show to begin. Theatre is back in the house!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
  • Help save the Provincetown Theater!

    Posted: April 11th 2021 @6:39 PM

    Due to ongoing Covid restrictions, the theater is still not allowed to produce any shows indoors; this may (or may not) change on (or about) June 1. Regardless of this potential pivot, they need to plan, prepare and employ their summer season now.

    The solution is in their own backyard: creating a temporary “Playhouse in the Parking Lot” where they can produce three small-cast non-musical plays this summer! Ellen Rousseau has already designed some plans that could make this work well.

    The proposal goes before Town licensing authorities on Tuesday, April 13 at 5:15pm. If your schedule allows, below is the call-in number to participate in the meeting.

    To be frank, if it’s not able to produce this summer, the Provincetown Theater may not be able to survive. For the sake of saving the theater, they truly need support for our proposal.

    To join the licensing meeting on Tuesday, April 13 at 5:15pm: Please dial 833-579-7589 and enter the conference ID when prompted including the # symbol: 185 641 21#

     
  • Tennessee Williams Birthday Celebrates Provincetown

    Posted: March 1st 2021 @12:16 PM

    Want to support local businesses *and* help this year’s TW Festival? Here’s how!

    Tennessee Williams Birthday Bash Raffle: Nine baskets filled with Provincetown’s best experiences!

    What could possibly improve a gorgeous September weekend in Provincetown, seeing glorious plays by Tennessee Williams? Winning a raffle prize to enjoy while you’re here!

    Don’t miss your chance to win one of nine collections of extraordinary Provincetown experiences. From retail and dining, to lodging and personal indulgences, to some of our finest galleries, each collection overflows with gift certificates featuring the best of Provincetown. They’re all great ways to enjoy your stay during the Festival or any other time of the year.

    This year’s prizes include …
    • A grand basket valued at $1000
    • Two fabulous baskets valued at $500 each
    • Six fantastic baskets valued at $250 each
    Every collection includes $50 and $100 gift certificates from a who’s who of Provincetown delights, including:

    Arcadia
    b/well
    The Boatslip
    Botanica
    Bowerstock Gallery
    The Box Lunch
The Canteen
Chach
Cortile Gallery
    Crown & Anchor Inn
    Crowne Pointe
East End Books
    Fanizzi’s Restaurant
    Far Land Provisions
    Front Street
    Glass Half Full
    Harbor Lounge
    Hook
    Jonathan Williams Salon
    Kiley Court Gallery
    Land’s End Inn
    Liz’s Café
Mac’s Seafood
The Mews
Perry’s Fine Wine & Liquors
    The Pilgrim House
Provincetown Brewing Co.
    Provincetown Massage
    The Red Inn
Ross’ Grill
Sal’s Place
Spindler’s
Snip Salon
    Stewart Clifford Gallery
    Strangers & Saints
Tin Pan Alley
    Victor’s

    … and more to come!

    The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival September 23-26, 2021 Raffle tickets go on sale today for $50 each or 3 for $110, in honor of Tennessee Williams’ 110th birthday year, and will be on sale until midnight on March 25th. Raffle winners will be drawn on Friday, March 26th.

    About the 2021 Festival Theme

    Exploring the theme “Censorship and Tennessee Williams”, the 2021 Festival celebrates the provocations perpetrated by Williams and other wayward writers with live performances at outdoor venues throughout Provincetown.
    “1621 kicked off in Provincetown with the Mayflower gone, never to return,” says Festival Curator David Kaplan. “Four hundred years of independent thinking followed. The outraged Puritans called it ‘flaunting.’ In 2021, the flaunting persists!”

    About the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival

    Each year, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival explores Williams’ famous as well as undiscovered plays, and invites new work inspired by his creative vision and avant-garde spirit. In 2021, at outdoor venues throughout the picturesque seaside village where Williams worked on many of his major works during the 1940s, the Festival will consider the full breadth of America’s great playwright. Along with live performances, the festival offers scholars and enthusiasts the Tennessee Williams Institute and the TW Experience. Now in its 16th year, the Festival is a testament to William’s enduring importance in the 21st century.

    For complete information about the Festival, visit twptown.org. You can also follow the Festival on Facebook and Instagram at @twptown.

     
  • There’s Nothing Rotten About the Cape Rep’s Current Production!

    Posted: November 13th 2019 @9:51 AM

    It’s fun. It’s bawdy, breathless, and brilliant. It’s Cape Rep’s regional première of Something Rotten! and you really do need to go see it. At a time when the days are getting shorter and the cold is starting to set in, it will lighten your mood and warm your heart.

    And it’s a lot of fun.

    Rock-star-and-he-knows-it Shakespeare (Owain Rhys Davies, who is brilliant at being bad) is stealing all the audiences with his great ideas for plays, and brothers Nick (Lukas Poost, in one of the funniest tours de force I’ve seen) and Nigel (John Dudley) Bottom are at their wits’ end and about to lose their only financial backer. Each takes a different route to solving the problem: Nigel writes beautiful verses that have the added advantage of attracting the attention of Portia (Ashlyn Inman), while Nick consults soothsayer Nostradamus (Jared Hagan) so he can beat Shakespeare to the next big thing.

    And that next big thing? Musicals!

    If you know and enjoy musicals, you’ll be especially in the know for this performance, as it’s studded with parodies (or perhaps homages) of everything from Cats to Annie to The Music Man. The opening number, Welcome to the Renaissance, sets the tone of exuberance and over-the-top humor with perfectly timed choreography and enthusiastic vocals (especially from the Minstrel, played by Donté Wilder), while Rhys Davies moans and whines his way through It’s Hard to be the Bard and Nick’s wife Bea (Trish LaRose) joins Nick for Right Hand Man. The songs are great, the performances spot-on, and the whole production is a delight.

    (And if musicals aren’t your thing, then watch for the bits and pieces of Shakespeare’s repertoire dropped in from time to time. They’re equally fun to identify.)

    Nostradamus (Thomas, that is, the nephew of the other one) isn’t always quite right: Shakespeare’s finest work ever, he predicts, will be a play called Omelette. Nick takes the prediction and runs with it, to the great distress of his brother and wife—and to Shakespeare’s great amusement. But what goes around definitely comes around, and the ending is perfect.

    The cast—including ensemble players Lindsey Erin Agnes, LeVane Harrington, Elizabeth McGuire, Alex John Johnson, Samantha Ross, Cape Rep favorite Anthony Teixeira—shows what a musical can look like when everyone is delivering their very best: Cape Rep’s production is absolutely top-notch and surprisingly joyful. Kudos to director Stephen Sposito, who clearly knows how to get the most out of a play, and to all the production staff for work that’s at the same level as the performances.

    With a memorable score and hilarious script, top-notch choreography and music, and acting that goes well beyond the surface of characters’ emotions and motivations, Something Rotten! is definitely not to be missed.

    images: Bob Tucker/Focalpoint

     

     

     
  • Arts Week for 7 February 2019

    Posted: February 7th 2019 @9:55 AM

     

    guests:

    • Stephanie Weaver from Cape Symphony
    • David Drake from Provincetown Theater

     

    Greetings! This is Arts Week, and I’m Jeannette de Beauvoir. 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 Ptownie Dispatch at ptownie.com. Want to find out about local music going on all over the Cape? Be sure to visit our website at womr.org and check out the calendar.

    As part of the SeaChange Film series, the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre will present Fox Tales on Saturday February 16 at 7pm. The program follows scientists in Madison and Bristol, England, tracking the movement of Red foxes into cities; follows a Red fox family raising young pups along the Newfoundland coast; accompanies a biologist to the Arctic studying the movement of Red fox heading to a new habitat; and presents rare footage and behavior of newborns inside the den. More at what.org.

    The From Stage to Screen free film series and discussion continues tomorrow night at 7pm at Province Landing, across the street from Mac’s on Shank Painter Rd. The film and the popcorn are free.

    The free February French Films continues February 13 from 5:30 – 8:00 pm at the Provincetown Public Library. The library’s February lineup features notable French foreign-language titles from the silver screen. The February 13th screening is the 2008 drama L’Heure D’été” or Summer Hours. It’s subtitled. More at provincetownlibrary.org.

    Winter Wednesdays is back for 2019! It’s a free community program aimed at bringing people together to learn new skills, meet other locals, and stay active and connected during the quiet winter months on Cape Cod. The community comes together to socialize and stay connected with classes and activities such as card making, pie baking, woodworking, acting Shakespeare, movie musicals, meditation, and more. Check out the list of classes at winterwednesdays.org.

    Team Trivia Night is Thursdays at Napi’s at 7pm. Come alone or bring a team with you for a night of fun, facts, music, and more. There’s sure to be a category that’s just right for you! The restaurant features some “trivia night” specials to go along with the game.

    THE PROVINCETOWN THEATER’s Winter Reading Series continues with The Shadow Child on February 12, 2019 at 7:00. In The Shadow Child, a young boy enters the lives of an emotionally haunted family in 1960s Brooklyn, shedding light on the things that matter most. Written by Provincetown playwright Myra Slotnick.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
  • Arts Week for January 24, 2019

    Posted: January 24th 2019 @9:55 AM

    This is Arts Week, and I’m Jeannette de Beauvoir. 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 Ptownie Dispatch at ptownie.com. Want to find out about local music going on all over the Cape? Be sure to visit our website at womr.org and check out the calendar.

    The Coffeehouse at the Mews continues its 28th season on Monday nights. It’s an open mic for writers, playwrights, poets, singers, songwriters, comedians, etc. Coffeehouse performances benefit various community organizations, including WOMR and the Provincetown Theater. Signup is at 6:30 and each week includes a featured performer.

    The From Stage to Screen free film series continues tomorrow night at 7pm at Province Landing, across the street from Mac’s on Shank Painter Rd. The film and the popcorn are free.

    The Cape Symphony and Cotuit Center for the Arts will present “The Wizard of Oz in Concert” on Saturday, February 9 at 3:00 and 7: 30 p.m. & Sunday, February 10 at 3:00 p.m. at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center, 744 West Main Street, Hyannis. For more information or to purchase tickets visit capesymphony.org

    At the Water’s Edge Cinema, you can see:

    IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK: A woman in Harlem embraces her pregnancy while she and her family struggle to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime. Starring KiKi Layne, Stephan James and Regina King Based on the novel by James Baldwin. Written & directed by Barry Jenkins.

    THE FAVOURITE: In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Starring Golden Globe winner Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone.

    It’s Robert Burns’ 260th birthday, which means it’s time to celebrate Scotland’s national poet with a party, January 25th (tomorrow night) at the 1717 Meetinghouse in West Barnstable. Burns Night, or Burns Supper, has been celebrated since the early 19th century to honor the legendary National Poet of Scotland, Robert “Rabbie” Burns. Join us on Burns’s 260th birthday, January 25, 2019 for music: Highland pipes, the Meetinghouse’s magnificent Mander organ, Celtic harp, and sing-along piano–for words, with narration and Burns’ poetry. And of course there will be hearty Scottish fare, including the dreaded haggis! More at artscapecod.org

    Food on Film continues at the Wellfleet Preservation Hall tonight from 6-8:30 with EASY LIVING, 1937 B&W, 89 min. Jean Arthur and Ray Milland shine in this classic screwball comedy written by Academy Award winner Preston Sturges. Mary Smith (Arthur) is a poor working girl who literally has a fortune dropped in her lap when a wealthy financier (Edward Arnold) tosses a sable coat out a window and it lands on her. Everyone automatically assumes she’s his mistress, and soon her fairytale-like rags-to-riches lifestyle threatens a very real romance with an inept waiter (Milland).

    There’s an Automat-inspired menu:

    • Tuna Melt on Hole-in-One crusty unglazed sour cream donut (or roasted vegetable salad on same)
    • Waldorf Salad on Arugula with Nauset Middle School Pea Shoots
    • Rice Pudding

    $20 for food and film, and there’s more info at wellfleetpreservationhall.org/

    Coming up: Stay tuned for a couple of roundtable discussions we’re planning for February and March, one on theatre on the Lower Cape, and one on the genius of Edward Gorey.

    And coming up…

     

    TODAY’S GUEST: 

    Deborah Forman has a degree in journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia, and has studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art. She has collected some of the most amazing of Cape Cod artists in her books, including John Dowd, Carmen Cicero, Anne Packard, MarieLouise Hutchinson, John Friedman, and more in two magnificent books that look at both landscapes and people.

    She wrote the script, conducted the interviews, and worked on the filming for Art In Its Soul, an award-winning documentary on the history of the Provincetown art colony, aired on public television stations nationwide. Deborah writes a monthly art column for the Cape Cod Times, and has published articles in the Cape Cod Times, Cape Cod VIEW magazine, and Art New England. She was the features editor of the Cape Cod Times and editor in chief of Cape Cod VIEW. She is also an artist and exhibits her work at Miller White Fine Arts on South Dennis.