GFS 5th Graders Present “Annie JR.” this Week in Bedford Square; Tickets Still Available
Learning their steps from co-choreographer Kristine Nielsen. After months of outdoor rehearsals, Greens Farms Elementary School fifth graders are excited to present their show “Annie Jr.” this week in Bedford Square.
Laura Curley Pendergast, owner of Theater Camp 4 Kids Broadway Academy, directs the show Annie Jr. Musical theater wasn’t on the amenities list for tenants of Bedford Square, but residents and passersby have gladly noticed the small acting school practicing outdoors - in all weather - throughout the pandemic in yet another example of the theatrical arts thriving in Westport. The Westport Local Press was able to visit the group at the rotary parking lot at 12 Elm Street - watching as the sidewalk became a stage, and apartment owners leaned from their balconies to enjoy the show below.
The acting school is run by Westporter Laura Curley Pendergast, who is directing the sidewalk show with the help of volunteers and interns. The sets are mobile, with a makeshift indoor studio space and the use of the sidewalks being lent to the group of singing, dancing kids by Bedford Square’s David Waldman. Waldman has allowed them the space, as other indoor venues were shuttered this past year - such as the auditoriums of many local schoolhouses.
Holden LaForce fills Bedford Square with his voice as he practices one of Annie Jr’s musical numbers. Capri DiVincenzo, playing Grace Farrell, and Charlotte Pendergast, Co-leading as Annie. The tiny dancers captured the attention of many who walk past the group as they sing, dance, flip, “sleep”, and laugh through their rehearsals - with Pendergast leading them as they glide through their lines and moves. The fifth graders make the work seem effortless, with scene changes and dance routines moving along without missing a beat during rehearsals, even while pedestrians crossed and twisted around the kids with bright sun beating down on their faces.
However warm now, the school had continued through this past winter - with students hopping onto the sidewalk stage in thick coats, hats, gloves during the cold New England days to prepare for their next show.
Co-lead Jasmita Mani-Lorenzato as Annie.After months of hard work and pandemic-era adaptations, the Greens Farms School fifth graders welcome the community to attend their shows this week - right on the sidewalk where they’ve been singing and dancing all along. A sweet rendition of Annie, Annie Jr. will gives Westporters a chance to enjoy a live performance under the bright skies and street lamps of Downtown Westport.
Annie JR. Performance Schedule:
Friday, June 4th: 6:30 PM
Saturday, June 5th: 2:00 PM
Saturday, June 5th: 4:30 PM
Sunday, June 6th: 4:30 PM*
To attend the outdoor performances, contact Director Laura Curley Pendergast by texting her at 917-734-8462 or by emailing anniejr2021westport@gmail.com to purchase the $18 tickets. For information on camps and lessons, visit their website.
Charise Siblings Sell Kid-Created Art for a Cause; Youngest Exhibitors at Westport Fine Arts Festival
Ashley and Austin Charise stand inside their booth surrounded by the student-created art, all of which is being sold for a good cause. Austin (11) and Ashley (9) Charise had the idea to join the Westport Arts Festival this year, however when they realized how large of an event it is and that they would be juried, they went back to the drawing board as they worked to meet their goal of obtaining a booth that displayed art created by fellow elementary schoolers.
Thinking about how to enter the show as elementary schoolers, and with guidance from the Downtown Merchant’s Association, the siblings were able to find a sponsor in their parents’ local business and with help from local artist Miggs Burroughs and the Drew Friedman Community Arts Center - and their booth was secured. With a spot on Brooks Corner, they were the youngest exhibiting members of the Festival and enjoyed meeting the artists who worked alongside them to sell their art to the community.
Their booth exhibited art from Westport elementary schoolers, from 5 to 11 years old. Each piece required a $20 fee to enter, which was donated to the international charity BuildOn. The artist named their price for their pieces, and when sold, they collected 80% of the sales - with the other 20% also going towards BuildOn.
The Charise siblings have a goal in mind with those BuildOn donation dollars: build a school in Malawi, Africa. As of Sunday, they had raised nearly $1,500 dollars towards their goal, with hope that Sunday afternoon will bring more success as the festival comes to a close at 5:00 PM today.
Westonite Drew Klotz Takes Home the $500 Pen Sculpture Award from Fine Arts Festival
Sculpture artist Drew Klotz holds his blue ribbon after being awarded the Pen Sculpture Award by the Downtown Merchant’s Association. Klotz has participated in 5 of the 48 years of the Westport Fine Arts Festival, and has kinetic sculptures visible throughout both Westport and the region.
The Effort of a Damp Day
Oil painter Ning Lee, Booth 128, protects his canvases by clearing a large collection of rainwater from his tent’s roof. Preston Siroka for the Westport Local Press.
Fine Arts Festival Busy Despite Rain
Opening day of the Westport Fine Arts Festival was busy despite a deluge of rain over the tented display booths. The Downtown Merchant’s Association holds the event rain or shine, with the event running until 5:00 PM today, and from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM tomorrow.
Emerging Lincoln Center Talent Dazzles MoCA Crowd
Last night at MoCA Westport, the Alexa Tarantino Quartet, a Jazz at Lincoln Center Emerging Artist, performed an amazing set to a crowd of socially distanced patrons. Music from Tarantino's Firefly album was played for the first time in Connecticut and attendees enjoyed her Firefly signature drink (an Italian apertif including aperol, prosecco, club soda and a slice of orange). The concert was moved indoors given the inclement weather.
Next up in the Music at MoCA Series is Jocelyn and Chris, a sibling rock duo known for their performance on The Today Show. They will perform an outdoor concert on Friday, June 11. Tickets available on mocawestport.org.
Photo by Maddy Martin, MoCA.
WAAC Culture Corner: A Mother’s Love for May
A Mother’s Love
Welcome back to the Westport Local Press’s Westport Arts Advisory Committee’s “Culture Corner.” Each month, the WAAC will scour our 33.45 square miles and highlight one of the many artists – visual, written, performance, and other – who call Westport home. These artists create a spectrum of color that shines over town like the rainbows often seen over the Saugatuck, so we have made “color” our theme.
This month, we offer up a bouquet of pink to mothers everywhere and shine our spotlight on one in particular this month of May. We feature Cecily Gans, chef and long-time culinary instructor at Staples High School, not only for her artistic creativity, but also because of the special relationship she and her daughter Leila share around food.
Taken at Brasserie Suffren, Paris. “When you look at the next table and realize you need an oyster course.”
When I asked how chefs qualify as artists, Chef Gans quoted Apicius, the first century Roman gourmand (sciencedirect.com), “we eat with our eyes.” We see food before we eat it, and to appear appetizing, it must, she says “have consistent visual appeal and symmetry.” We read recipes before we even prepare ingredients, and in print and on television, food still has immense appeal even though we cannot taste it. Her background stood her in good stead for this artistic approach to food. Her parents both graduated from the RISD, and she received an education in drama and the visual arts prior to studying culinary arts. In culinary school, she says she “drew her plates,” to see how the food would look, noting the importance of that creative visual element. “Food,” she says, “is an art first.”
At home, her grandmother, the first female instructor at the Culinary Institute of America, influenced her the most. Hours in the kitchen with her imparted the importance of mixing ingredients – like paints or notes or words – beautifully, in correct proportion, to create appealing, delicious dishes.
Her daughter, Leila, now 12, introduced a new level of love of cooking (and of course love in general). Chef Gans made all of Leila’s baby food, and brought her often to the Westport Farmers’ Market, where she sits on the board. She inculcated Leila with a deep appreciation for food from a young age; they cook together and share exotic meals on their travels. “I treat her like an adult when it comes to food.” Her Facebook feed features photos of them sharing many culinary adventures around the globe, including escargot and raw oysters in Paris. Their love of the food and each other is evident in every photo.
First Matzo Ball Soup made with Grandma Feisty.Leila had the gift of sharing a kitchen with her great grandmother, too, until she died recently at the age of 103. One of Chef Gans’ favorite memories around food is the time she, her mother, grandmother, and Leila all made matzoh ball soup together in a multigenerational gastronomical love fest. Although her grandmother is gone, her lessons and love, including many of her cookbooks, stay with Chef Gans. She often revisits these, among her over 1,000 cookbooks, to re-inspire her. While extravagant feasts overseas titillate them both, she views sitting down together for a family meal such an important expression of the art and love inherent in cooking.
When asked how she would celebrate Mother’s Day this year, she said that she and Leila would cook “a really nice meal for my mother; we are all really close.” The way, it seems, to everyone’s heart, is through this culinary art. Chef Gans and her daughter Leila live that axiom every day.
Westport Country Playhouse Announces Debut of Middle School Summer Camp
Press ReleaseWestport Country Playhouse will launch CampWCP, a new, in-person, social justice theater camp for 10 middle school students (6th through 8th grade) with playwright José Casas and the Playhouse’s Roz and Bud Siegel director of education Jenny Nelson. CampWCP will run from July 6 through July 30, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the theater’s rehearsal studio. Registration opens Monday, May 3, at noon. Licensing from the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) is pending approval.
The four-week camp will be split into two classes: acting taught in the morning by Nelson, and playwriting/production taught in the afternoon by Casas. The 10 young artists will create original pieces focusing on the question: "What does home mean to you?,” working with Casas to weave their collective stories into a play. In addition, Playhouse staff will give the campers insight on what happens behind the scenes at a professional theater. At CampWCP’s conclusion on Saturday, July 31, students will share their original creations, in-person, at the Playhouse for an invitation-only event for their family and friends.
Casas believes that “this camp is the creation of a safe space so that youth feel free to express all their thoughts, feelings, and opinions. It is a collaboration and exchange where youth voices are acknowledged, listened to, and celebrated."
Casas is a playwright and assistant professor who heads the playwriting minor in the department of theatre and drama at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild as well as a board member of Children’s Theatre Foundation of America. He has a BA in theatre arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara; MA in theatre arts from California State University, Los Angeles; MFA in playwriting from Arizona State University; and two years of graduate coursework in drama and theatre for youth and communities (DTYC) at the University of Texas at Austin. His plays have been performed across the country and included in anthologies. His plays, “la ofrenda” and “somebody’s children,” received both the Bonderman National Playwriting Award and the American Alliance of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Play Award. His book, “Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o Theatre for Young Audiences,” was awarded the American Alliance of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Book Award.
Nelson hails from Arizona where she received her bachelor’s degree in theater, master’s degree in theater from the University of Arizona, and a second master’s degree in education from Fairfield University. She is the associate artistic director of Collective Consciousness Theatre, a social justice theater in New Haven. She has taught at several universities, including City College of New York in the graduate program for theater professionals and educators. She has also worked as an artist and educator at several theaters, including Long Wharf Theatre, Shubert Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre. Recently, Nelson was a nominee for the Tony Teaching Award of Excellence.
Fee for the four-week camp is $750. To ensure that all young artists have equal access, scholarships and payment plans are available. Maximum camp capacity is 10 students. Registration will be online from Monday, May 3 through Tuesday, June 1 at https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/campwcp/
Campers will receive a limited edition CampWCP t-shirt; a copy of instructor José Casas’ play, “somebody’s children”; and a bound copy of the play collectively created.
Masks will be worn by staff and campers at all times; social distancing and health protocols will be followed, including OEC and local Covid-19 guidelines.
CampWCP is sponsored by Paige and Jodi Couture; additional 2021 Education Program supporters include the Eunice and David Bigelow Foundation; The David and Geri Epstein Foundation; George A. and Grace L. Long Foundation; Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc., The Westport Young Woman’s League; as well as Athena and Daniel Adamson; Anna Czekaj-Farber; and Roz and Bud Siegel. WSHU is a 2021 Season Media Sponsor.
For Westport Country Playhouse tickets and information, visit westportplayhouse.org, call (203) 227-4177, or email at boxoffice@westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), and on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).
Mark Twain Library Hosts Interview with Noted Photographer; Hosted by Bill McBrayer of Westport’s Concept One Communications
Press ReleaseSean Pomposello cut his teeth as a street photographer and playwright in New York City where he worked for more than three decades capturing stolen moments of everyday people on the streets of New York in images and on the stage. That came to a full stop when the pandemic hit and he found himself quarantined in a much different visual environment amid the rolling hills of Redding, CT, where he lives with his family. He’ll tell fellow Redding resident, adman and local musician Bill McBrayer about his transformation from shooting busy street scenes to capturing the quiet of country roads in a virtual interview at the Mark Twain Library, Thursday, April 22nd @ 7:30pm.
The program will examine the role of personal narrative in photography as Pomposello shares his images and his story about how the COVID-19 pandemic served to inform the body of his work to include the wooded wonders of his mystical hometown.
“The past year has impacted everyone in so many different ways,” said Mark Twain Library Adult Program Coordinator Elaine Sanders, “We are thrilled to be able to shine the light on Pomposello’s work and address how photography can be used as a tool for personal and professional expression.”
Pomposello’s specialty is catching candid glimpses of the everyday people he encounters which then serve as a character development tool for his dramatic work, which has been recognized by theatres and festivals around the country. His photographs have been featured in a number of publications including Huffington Post, Digital Photography Review and the street photography documentary Everybody Street. A member of the international photography collective, Noise, his work has also toured in galleries across the globe.
Living in Redding for two decades inspired Bill McBrayer’s love for open spaces and nature's wild beauty. Bill is an award-winning writer and creative director, whose work for his Westport-based agency, Concept One, includes a PR Week Campaign of the Year and Adweek's Top Brand Moment of the Year (note: they were different years). He has only missed one Redding Run for The Cows and regularly performs locally as the vocal half of The Resounders.
Register online at www.marktwainlibrary.org, or call 203-938-2545 for information.
Westport Women’s Club Announces May Art Show
Piece by Kerry LongPress ReleaseThe Westport Woman’s Club will host its annual Art Show on Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23 (2:00 pm - 6:00 pm both days, indoors at the clubhouse) at 44 Imperial Ave, Westport, CT. Admission to the Westport Woman’s Club Art Show is free and open to the public; masks will be required and attendance will be limited. This event will follow all protocols mandated by CT and the town of Westport.
Curated by Westport Artist Miggs Burroughs, this popular show features a variety of local artists and their works available for purchase. Event Co-Chairs Jo Fuchs Luscombe and Leah Scherzer share that participating artists are donating a portion of their art sales to fund the club’s community service grants, scholarships and programs.
The roster of WWC Art Show 2021 artists, whose works will be available for purchase, include: Nina Bentley, Amy Bock, Trace Burroughs, Susan Fehlinger, Judith Orseck Katz, Tom Kretsch, Susan Leggitt, Kerry Long, Michael Ledner, Carole McClintock, Bernard Perry, Jon Puzzuoli, Katherine Ross and Jo Titsworth. Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted for Art Show purchases, as well as charitable donations to the Westport Woman’s Club.
The Westport Woman’s Club thanks its generous sponsors for the 2021 Art Show which include The Drew Friedman Community Art Center, as well as New York artist JoMarie Dilorio who is donating an original piece of art, “Sunflowers Basking”, that will be given via a drawing to an Art Show attendee.
For more information on the Westport Woman’s Club Community Service outreach, please visit “Community Services” on www.westportwomansclub.org.